Feeling All Alone Without A Friend
by Meganelixabethh
Summary: A family member comes to stay with one of our favourite doctors, whats gonna happen? summery sucks but i couldnt give much more away without ruining the first chapter. please just read
1. Chapter 1

**Excuse my 'English' lingo. i think you call a fringe bangs in America. It's the bit of hair that goes over your eyes. I also apologise for all the seemlessly uneeded description about what she looks like, i think i'll need it all later on and lastly this is my blanket disclaimer.**

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Houses office looked as it usually did in the middle of a case. The whiteboard had been scrawled all over, paper was everywhere, Chinese cartons were sat atop mounds of files and there were dozens of empty coffee cups, pop bottles and slushy cartons thrown just about anywhere. Only a single oasis of calm remained in the entire room, left that way as people were scared what would happen to them if they defiled it. Dr. Cameron's desk. Just one thing was different; a teenage girl sat in one of the sterile metal chairs staring intently at the whiteboard, you could almost see her mind spinning, pulling pieces of the difficult puzzle together. She was pretty, but in an unconventional way; very different to Cameron's supermodel-esque figure she was much closer to Cuddy's voluptuous curves and had an impressive height to complement them perfectly. Her dark brown hair fell just a few inches past her broad shoulders in waves and her fringe swept dramatically over her forehead, unexplainably straight against the rest of her hair. Her complexion was tanned and her green-blue eyes were by far her most attention grabbing feature, especially at the age of 15. Her body may have raced ahead but her face still held a little of its cherubic youth, her eyes still possessed innocence, even if it had been marred by a deep sadness that seemed to hang around her like an aura.

Her head whipped around as Cameron, Chase and Foreman entered the room

"Who are you?" Foreman asked. The same American accent as everyone seemed to have; it was really starting to grate on the girls nerves.

"Botulism" She replied unwaveringly, her soprano voice causing the three doctors to instantly become more interested. She had an English accent. Her medical diagnosis also caused them all to raise their eyebrows in surprise, at first dismissing it, then accepting it as the pieces fit together in their minds.

"She's right" Cameron exclaimed in surprise.

"Who are you?" Chase repeated but she didn't answer, only getting a faraway look in her eyes before asking quietly "Do you miss it? England?"

Chase smiled "You've got a good ear" Her piercing green-blue eyes didn't leave him, demanding an answer

"Yeah, a lot. It's a lovely place. You must miss it too. Is that where you're from?" he asked craftily trying to get even a little information from this strange girl that hadn't given them a straight answer to anything. While the men were only interested in what she was doing in their office, Cameron was by far more worried about her welfare. She had instantly picked up on the unspoken hopelessness that had seeped around the room and the girl's evasive nature reminded Cameron of when she'd first moved away after her husband had died.

"Are you okay? Are you lost?" she asked kindly, worried she might have just lost a relative and stumbled in here surrounded by a haze of grief and sorrow.

"No" She replied, not specifying if it was in answer to the first or second question "You should put them on anti toxins. Can I-" She started to ask but was cut off by Foreman "We know how to treat botulism! Who are you and what are you doing here?" but she ignored the question "Can I see the case file?" she asked again, overly enunciating each word to show her annoyance at being interrupted. Foreman was about to deny her when House entered the room.

"Let her see. It's practically her birthright after all" He teased in his typical American drawl that was a slightly more attractive sound to her ears. She visibly stiffened at the word birthright. She didn't want this, not now, not this way. "Shut up." She stated through gritted teeth. Only Cameron wondered what had caused the sudden change in demeanour. "What you don't want people to find out that you're-" "Button it!" she cut him off angrily, suddenly coming out of her chair, it tipped backwards and landed with a clatter on the floor, startling them all.

"Don't hurt me, I'm a cripple" House said and started to limp back to him office before turning around with speed that surprised everyone in the room and shouted "Cuddy's niece!" she could almost hear the collective intake of shocked breathe even though it wasn't there. No one knew much about their superior's private life but House's team were sure they would have heard about a niece coming to stay.

"Which leads me to the inevitable conclusion that there's a big family scandal going on here" House finished after leaving a significant amount of time to take in the ruins of the live grenade he'd just thrown into the middle of the room. He was obviously desperate to share his theory so the girl decided to indulge him. Her secret was out now after all. "Go on then. What lead you to your Einstein-ish discovery?" House was all too happy to oblige. But Chase cut in before he could begin his tirade, "Well she correctly diagnosed the patient with botulism and I'm not actually that interested in listening to your twisted theories about her past so I'm gonna go and give him treatment now" before leaving the room. She suddenly felt very alone, surrounded by people that had no idea how different America was from her birthplace; her homesick thoughts were very quickly cut off by House's reason behind his theory.

"Well you're obviously avoiding her seeing as you're in here and not sitting in her office talking to her like an excitable little stuffed animal, it's also 10 am and judging by your incredibly neat appearance you haven't been here long and the well concealed bags under your eyes say you're still suffering from jet lag. Conclusion, you haven't been in the country long so you wouldn't have had a lot of time to catch up. Even if you knew of her and just lived in a different continent you would be happy to see her at some point, so what are you doing sitting in a room full of strangers? Next conclusion; you don't actually know her, she didn't know you existed but you're her niece so you must be the daughter of her only sister which doesn't make sense as you're English and she only has 1 sibling she knows of. Final conclusion, she didn't know your mom/dad had even been born so you're her shiny new family member she has to look after because you're parents went and kicked the bucket-"

"House!" Cameron scolded him, she had know right from the moment she met this mystery girl she had lost someone important and that hardly seemed an appropriate way to bring up the subject. She was about to berate him further but was cut off by the slow, sarcastic applause coming from the girl.

"Well done, spot on. Killed in a car crash 3 months ago, adopted at a young age by my 'grandparents' who are close family friends with Lisa's mum. She shipped my mum over there when she had just been born because she felt she was too young for a child. Nobody else wanted me so they brought me here to live with my 'Auntie'. A woman I've never met and don't intend on getting to know. Any more questions?"

House remained silent but Cameron had one last enquiry, Foreman stayed silent in the background.

"What's your name?"

"Martha" She offered simply but house wasn't satisfied. Was he ever?

"You're gonna need a last name if you're hanging around here. Unless you want me to call you Cuddy mark two." She threw him a filthy look, but never the less told him

"Johnson. I'm Martha Johnson."

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**Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, firstly I must say I am very embarrassed. I got an anonymous review from someone called 'just lobe' that brought a massive oversight on my part. I do know that Chase has a predominantly Australian accent but in an episode (don't ask me which because I can't remember) a patient picks up on the English twang I have always noticed and he confirms that he spent a while in England. I was just making Martha pick up on it as well, I didn't realise some of you didn't notice it. I'm sorry.**

**Secondly... WOW! The amount of feedback I've got is fantastic and I must say it has defiantly spurred me on. I've had this idea since I was 11 or 12 when I was watching the re runs of season 3 which is why I have used the old team and not anybody else, so thank you for all the feedback, followers and favrouters that have given me the confidence to carry on.**

**And after that novel on with the story...**

Martha's mood had lifted considerably after everyone had found out her secret, Foreman had stalked out to go and help Chase but her and Cameron had stayed in the communal area tidying up seeing as there would hopefully be no more all nighters on this case. Cameron considered herself a very strong woman; she had lost her husband to a terrible disease that had taken him painfully, slowly and stolen the rest of her fairytale life away from her in the process. Not a word was spoken for a long time as each person swept around the room like a cleaning tornado as they threw various pieces of rubbish in the bin and stacked the files on Cameron's desk to report on. Enveloping them comfortably, the silence seemed to stretch on forever, banishing the melancholic atmosphere Martha seemed to carry around with her. Something about Martha made Cameron trust her, want to open up and try to help.

"My husband died. Last year. We'd only been married 6 months and he died of thyroid cancer that metastasized to his brain. I knew he was terminal when I walked down the aisle. Heck I knew he was terminal when I first met him and it hurt so much when he died. I don't know what I thought, that I could fix him? He was terminal and I was a doctor, I should have even entertained the notion he might have lived but I did and I don't know what I was thinking-" she cut off when an unintentional sob escaped her mouth and a few rough tears managed to fall. Martha turned round and shushed her softly; Cameron had the grace to look ashamed. She had set out to try and comfort this silent, endearing girl but instead had turned the tables and Martha was the one comforting her. Not with words but with a dazzling smile that made the sun look dull.

"I'm sorry" Cameron blurted out "I was trying to comfort you but instead I've burst into tears"

"You have helped" she replied gently. Her voice was just the right side of sympathetic, she understood. She understood the blind rage that was linked with pity. "You've showed me it's not over. That life will carry on, even if I don't want it to" and she smiled again, not the same 100 mega watt grin, but a soft, sad smile that Cameron recognized and she mimicked it. She was thinking about her mum, and Cameron was thinking about her husband, smiling because of all the happiness they had, but sad because they would never find that unique flavour of happiness again.

Martha's eyes darted towards house's adjoining office, her smile slid away and she swore quietly under her breathe. "Cuddy's here." She explained as she darted toward the door "see you" She whispered as she swept out of the room, jogging in the opposite direction. Cameron just let out a single breathy chuckle whilst shaking her head. _That girl is something else_ she thought before getting back to her paperwork.

Martha found herself in the chapel, its soft hush surrounded her the instant she let the door click closed behind her and she sunk down into the back pew gratefully; trying to draw some answers from her life. But instead of praying she sang faintly "I should be crying, but I just can't let it show. I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking, of all the things I should've said, that I never said. All the things we should've done, that we never did. All the things I should've given, but I didn't. Oh, darling, make it go, make it go away. Give me these moments back. Give them back to me. Give me that little kiss. Give me your hand."

She carried on singing as she made her way to the table of candles and carried on still as she lit one for her mother and yet another for Cameron's husband. She carried on lighting and lighting until every candle held a tiny flame that, when combined with all the other flames, made the table look as if it was ablaze with hope and love. Martha then turned her back on the table and left it shining as bright as a beacon as she flipped the lights off on her way out, the entire chapel only lit by the comforting glow of so many tiny wishes. Still the two firstly lit lights seemed to glow the brightest, almost holding the soul of the people they had lost.

**It's quite a short chapter but I just wanted to establish the relationship between Cameron and Martha, I always set out for them to connect to each other on a deeper level because they had both lost someone who meant the world to them. Please listen to the song I quoted in here 'This Woman's Work' by Kate Bush. It's beautiful. As always, please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Martha blended in well with the 'indie' kids back in England but in America she had a somewhat unique style which is why it didn't take a very irritated Cuddy long to track her down. She knew she'd found Martha the second she caught sight of her purple shiny Doc Martens and she couldn't help but notice, especially from behind, how much this mystery girl looked like a taller version of herself. Her legs were encased in flowery black tights and she wore a tiny yet perfectly modest pair of blue denim shorts and a large grey tee shirt with The Beatles on the front. On her feet she wore a fantastic pair of purple boots and her hair was a mess in a way only possible with naturally wavy hair. _If you dressed her in work clothes and heels you would be hard pushed to tell the difference _Cuddy mused silently, but her thoughts didn't last very long as she needed to get Martha's attention so they could go home, it was late.

"Martha! Where have you been all day? I told you not to wander off" Cuddy called down the hallway in her best don't-mess-with-me voice; unfortunately Martha seemed to be immune. She spun round blindingly fast with a look of rage in her eyes and managed to say "And I told you I'm not five" through gritted teeth. The lack of freedom was really starting to get to her. Not only was she forced to come to work with this unknown relative instead of being trusted in the house on her own, she also practically had toddler reigns on her.

"I'm not saying this because I don't trust you but because I can't have you gallivanting around the hospital all day, you'll get in peoples way" she replied levelly as they walked out the door and towards Cuddy's parking space.

"Really?" Martha asked sarcastically "Because last time I checked House's last case was solved by none other than yours truly" it was amazing, this woman she'd never met before yesterday seemed to have already worked out the fine art of bringing her to boiling point in 5 minutes flat.

"Look. I know you want to stay at home. So tomorrow you can if you want to." Cuddy offered. She was deliberately overlooking the fact that the department in her hospital with the highest IQ just had its latest case solved by a 15 year old. It was mind boggling. She also couldn't stand the thought of another day worrying constantly about a grieving teenager's whereabouts. She was hoping Martha would snap up the offer in seconds after the fuss she had made this morning about having to come to the hospital. But it was summer vacation, she didn't know anyone, Cuddy didn't trust her not to run off if she was left at home alone all day. What was she meant to do with her?

"No thanks..." Martha began, her mind working on a plan already "If you don't want me wandering around I could just hang out in Diagnostics all day?" She wasn't sensing Cuddy's willingness so she added "Like I said, I solved there last case" and turned her stunning smile back on and flashed it at Cuddy, all sweetness and light now she wanted something.

"Fine." Cuddy said begrudgingly "But if I have ONE complaint off House, I'm tying you to my chair" she finished as she pulled into her driveway

"Thanks Lisa!" Martha gushed before slinging her bag over her shoulder and bolting into the house, up the stairs and jumping onto her bed. Martha still couldn't stand the woman but if she was that easy to get around she could learn to live with it. She was also very happy at the thought of spending all day in House's office, by the sounds of it they dealt with just about anything and Martha wanted to go to medical school when she finished her A-Levels so that sounded interesting. Dr. Cameron was also a comforting thought. She understood, she knew and Martha trusted her implicitly after only a single half hour conversation. Her world had fallen apart recently and it was nice to know someone had come out the other end of a similar situation in one piece. Chase also made her feel comfortable with that homely English twang on the edge of his Australian accent, now Foreman. Foreman she knew very little about, she hadn't been able to deduce much, just that he preferred it if you did what he said, when he said. Martha couldn't see herself getting along with him.

Meanwhile Cuddy had also gone up to her room and gotten changed into more comfortable clothes before deciding to text House about Martha's new daily arrangement.

_Hey, did Martha spend some time with you today? X_

_**Yep. Why?x**_

_I was just wondering, she said she solved your case. Did she? X_

_**Yes. This proves my theory about how my team are all idiots x**_

_There not idiots House x_

_**No, they just have a hard time coming up with diagnosis even though they've spent 6 years in medical school and Cuddy mark 2 has spent... None. How old is she anyway?x**_

_15 x_

_**Well that'll make foreman bitter... is that all you wanted cause I have a hooker coming over x**_

_I guess so x_

_**Cool x**_

_She wants to spend her days in diagnostics x_

_**Why?x**_

_Because I don't want her wandering around the hospital and she said she wouldn't mind hanging round there all day x_

_**Leave her at home!x**_

_I can't. Im scared she'll run off. Her mom died 3 monthes ago x_

_**Oh yeah, your sister... you're going to have to tell me all about this juicy family scandal tomorrow x**_

_No x_

_**What're you wearing? X**_

_Goodnight House x_

_**Goodnight Cuddy x**_

The sound of the doorbell reverberated through the house and she heard Martha come dashing down the stairs to answer it. _She's not so bad_ cuddy thought _she _has_ just answered the door so I don't have to get up_

"Hey Lisa, I need $20 to pay the pizza guy. I ordered in" Martha asked with angelic defiance, daring Cuddy to tell her no and berate her for ordering take away without consulting her. Instead of rising to the challenge she merely gave Martha 20 dollar bill and waited for her to return with the food.

_That girl is something else_ she thought with a single soft chuckle and shake of the head. She didn't know Cameron had done the exact same thing earlier that day.

**As always, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has complemented me on Martha because if you threw me into a similar situation that girl is essentially me, I love writing her because it's like playing pretend ^.^**

**Secondly I would like to give a shout out to all my reviewers: HuddyGirl, Alex, Abby, lenasti16, just lobe, shawdoo, momsboy and lin12344 thank you all, you are making all this worthwhile with your support**

**And lastly (no I didn't forget you) IHeartHouseCuddy. You're support has been lovely and I thought you deserved your own special little line hehe**

**And on with the story...**

Martha's chest rose and fell steadily while her mind was enraptured by sleep and Cuddy couldn't deny how different she looked. She didn't have lines or wrinkles on her face as such but it did hold a set, a mask of sorts that made her look older. Put there by grief you shouldn't feel when you're only 15, but she did because something horrible and unfair had happened to her so early on in her life when she should be worrying about spots and boys and grades. Not a runaway father and a mother she'd have to put in the ground when the inquiry's over. She looked peaceful and contented for the first time since Cuddy had met her just two days ago and her face softened. She would have to go to work soon but Martha got ready very quickly and she looked as if she could do with the extra sleep. The bags under her eyes were becoming more pronounced, Cuddy hoped it was just the jet lag affecting her. _She should be sleeping better in a few days _Cuddy told herself before heading downstairs to make breakfast for them both.

Martha's eyes snapped open the second Cuddy left the room, the sound opening the door made had pulled her from sleep and she decided to just pretend until Lisa woke her up, but she didn't. Just stood at the doorway for a few seconds before clicking it closed again. She stumbled from her bed and sat in front of the mirror on her dressing table; 'her' room was nice, pretty and large but it didn't feel like home, she only had a practical liking of some of the things in there and her mirror was one of them, it was one of the hinged ones that had a big mirror in the middle and two smaller ones flanking it that folded inwards. She's washed her hair the night before so it hung dramatically around her face in glossy waves. Martha defiantly looked like her mum, and her mum looked just like Lisa so when she looked at herself in the mirror she saw the image of an awkward relationship that should have never existed. With a sigh Martha dragged her brush through her hair and applied her makeup before pulling on a pair of skinny jeans, a faded green band tee shirt and picked up her bag before descending down the stairs to decline Cuddy's attempt at breakfast and pull on her red converse before sitting silently in the car.

HOUSEHOUSEHOSUE

"Hey" Martha said with a smile as she breezed through the glass door, she helped herself to a glass of water and sat down across from Cameron who greeted her in a similar fashion.

"Hey Martha" Cameron told her before sliding a file across to her "I like your tee shirt and I thought you might want to know how the man with botulism's doing"

"Thanks" Martha replied to both statements before becoming engrossed in the file stating yesterday's patient's treatment and current status. He was stable and his vitals were getting stronger by the hour; Martha felt a warm glow of pride at correctly diagnosing him and gave a broad grin.

Chase and Foreman burst through the door laughing about some joke or another and flopped down into the remaining seats, chatting away to the two women that already occupied the office.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Cuddy's door opened and crashed against the wall, making her jump but also telling her who was coming in. Only one person she knew opened doors with such vigour and drama. House.

"I can't have a kid hanging round my office" He said, getting straight to the point "She's gonna kill someone" he continued, he was about to carry on but Martha crashed through the door

"Hey, Cuddy, can I have-"

"Go away Junior, mommy and daddy are talking grown up stuff" House cut her off, gesturing for her to leave with his hand and she started to leave but her eyes grew dark and she turned around and let them burn into Cuddy for a second.

"You're nothing like my mum" she said simply before turning around and slamming the door behind her. She desperately wanted to go back to the office, but she could still hear Cuddy and House talking and decided to wait around and listen to the show.

Cuddy waited a few seconds until she thought Martha would be out of earshot before letting her anger show "Great!" she stated sarcastically "Now she hates me even more and I didn't even say a word!" she finished, her voice tinged with desperation. Were they destined to live on metaphorical egg shells? Would Martha ever do more than simply tolerate her? Cuddy found it strangely hilarious that Martha dictated everything in her life now, what they ate, when they went to bed. Things an adult would decide for a child; she really had turned the tables in every way possible.

"Oh come on. Don't be so dramatic" House reasoned "You hate her too"

"I don't hate her!" Cuddy defended and Martha felt strangely warm and happy. She immediately pushed the feeling down. She didn't like Lisa. Christ she could barely tolerate her. _So why are you so desperate to be accepted?" _ A rouge voice in her mind asked, she promptly went and ignored it. She _didn't_ like Lisa. "I don't know her" Cuddy carried on and Martha shifted closer to the door so she could hear through the thick wood better "I don't know what to _do_ with her." She finished desperately and anger flared up in Martha again. _She doesn't know what to do with me!? What am I? An object? A thing?_

"Well I should have to deal with her just because you don't want to." House countered seamlessly and the fury drained as quickly as it had come. _House doesn't want me? _She thought sadly. House seemed to be the one other person in this whole hospital who understood what it was like to be screwed over when there was no one to legitimately blame. "Chase and Foreman have complained to me as well. No one wants a kid hanging around. No one except Cameron, they're getting on like a teen novel on fire" Martha sprinted away from the door. Not wanting to hear any more. She didn't stop until she had found a cupboard deep in the hospital, as far away from House and Cuddy and she could get before she let the tears fall.

She didn't care about Foreman, he had made it quite clear that he didn't like her and she had in turn made it quite clear the feeling was mutual, but Chase? Chase had reminded her of home, she'd only sat in the office with them for a little while but they had talked about England, she'd felt better; a little less homesick and a little more capable of taking America by storm. And he didn't like her, he had complained. Cuddy didn't know how to act around her, she was a mess and so was her life. All this time she'd been desperate to show how grown up she was, Cameron was the only person that had gotten past Martha's carefully built guard, knocked down the walls she's built around herself after her mum had been hit by a car in march. She'd been killed on impact and Martha's life had been in turmoil ever since; inside she was just a lost little girl trying to find someone to take her home.

The tears wouldn't stop, they just came faster and faster and it was all Martha could do to breathe around the desperate sobs. She unclasped the pretty oval locket from around her neck and opened it, revealing the photo of a pretty woman that looked like and older version of the woman she was now staying with, they were a spitting image of each other, no denying the relation.

"I miss you so much mum" she cried desperately, clinging to the locket as if it was the only thing stopping her floating away. She cried until there were no tears left and Cameron was frantic with worry, she'd only gone to get some money of Cuddy for lunch and that had been hours ago. She stood up decisively and swept out the door leaving a confused chase and Foreman sitting in her wake

**A bit more angsty then I first intended, but Martha just ran away with me and this is what happened. I hope I didn't make you all too sad and I hope you know all understand the many layers of Martha. **

**As always, please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Firstly I would like to thank all my reviewers for the last chapter again; momsboy, IHeartHouseCuddy, Alex, Abby and HuddyGirl thank you for your ongoing support, it is priceless! I would also like to encourage more reviewers to tell me what they think, even if you're anonymous, three of the five reviewers I mentioned above are 'anonymous' and I still love hearing what they have to say. Pretty please? With a cherry on top?**

**And on with the story...**

Picking moodily at her chips **(Fries for all my US readers) **Martha's mind was still circulating the same gloomy thoughts of isolation and loneliness and her mood was plummeting even further. Her appetite suddenly left her and she shoved the plate away in a childish manner even though she had also declined breakfast, only a few pieces of fried potato had been consumed which had made her feel oddly sick and she couldn't tell if it was from hunger of fullness. She suspected the former but Martha wasn't in any mood to be eating and was about to dump them in the bin and leave but Cameron flopped down opposite her with a plate of food, giving her chaotic mind a much needed rest bite. House had said she hadn't said anything and she trusted her implicitly after the news of the common ground. Martha knew Cameron well enough to be sure she wouldn't open up that way unless she trusted her; she felt safe.

"Hey... are you okay?" She asked, concerned. She had noticed the red rings around Martha's eyes, it was obvious she'd been crying so Cameron stood up and motioned for Martha to follow her into the ladies toilet and she complied happily; desperate to get away from the claustrophobic crush of people in the cafeteria. Cameron paused for only a second to grab a handful of ice cubes from the bucket next to the soft drink dispenser and Martha was left mystified. When they reached the safety of the bathroom, Cameron took two of the ice cubes and held one under each of Martha's eyes and told her to keep them there, while the cold ice was bringing down the swelling she rummaged around in her bag, triumphantly pulling out a stick of concealer a few seconds later. The ice had all but melted under Martha's eyes so she threw what was left in the sink and let Cameron dab the wet patches dry with a wad of tissue before expertly applying just enough concealer to cover the red patches and be unnoticeable when they faded. She'd done this before.

"Thanks" Martha said simply

"You wanna talk about it?" Cameron asked gently, prepared to respect any decision she made.

Martha was about to lie but decided against it at the last minute "Chase and Foreman complained to House. They don't like me hanging around, House doesn't either" She stated sadly "I don't care about Foreman, I know he doesn't like me and I don't really like him" She carried on "But Chase was so nice, he reminds me of home..." her voice trailed off, me meaning not said but implied. He made her feel safe.

Cameron just smiled and put her arm around her friend pulling her into a hug "They talked to House last night after you went to hide from Cuddy." She started "But when you went to go get money Chase said he felt bad, because no he'd talked to you he actually like you" She carried on "Foreman said he wasn't too keen on you, but I get the feeling that's only because you made him feel like a lesser mortal. Trust me, it's nothing personal" She finished with a smile but there was still one un resolved issue.

"House doesn't like me either" Martha said with a heartfelt sigh that made Cameron feel terrible

"House hates everyone" She replied, trying to make the over whelming sadness in Martha's eyes go away

"He doesn't hate you" She countered seamlessly

"What were his exact words?" Cameron asked, skirting around the subject expertly

"Something along the line of 'I can't have a kid hanging around my department, she'll kill someone"

"she'll? Did you over hear him?"

"I may have eavesdropped on him and Cuddy talking..." she said sheepishly, uncomfortable at being caught out.

"Then I know exactly why he said it! He did it to annoy Cuddy" She said simply, but Martha didn't get it, her mystified expression prompted Cameron to carry on "It's easier for Cuddy if she knows where you are all day and if he says he doesn't want you then she doesn't have a leg to stand on in terms of forcing him. It doesn't matter that you're 15 in age only; technically you shouldn't be sitting in with us. He respects you; I've seen him look at you in that way" She finished and was pleased to see a watery smile gracing Martha's mouth. She gave a broad grin in return and said "Come on, we don't have long to have lunch"

"I had a sandwich before you came, I'm full" Martha lied seamlessly, eyeing Cameron's super skinny physique. She could afford to skip a meal she told herself catching sight of her curves in the mirror as they left. Cameron didn't seem convinced so Martha changed the subject.

"Where's the closest shopping centre?" She asked

"There's a mall about 10 minutes down the interstate, 20 minute drive tops, why?"

"A lot of my clothes are still in England, I'm getting them when I go back for the- for the funeral." She finished, her voice cracking slightly.

"I'll take you tomorrow, our patient's being discharged tonight and we normally have a three day gap between cases" Cameron offered

"Great! Cuddy said I can use her credit card"

"She did?" Cameron asked, surprised

"No." Martha confessed "But she won't mind"

"You're insane" Cameron accused, if she had done that to anyone when she was 15, she would have been grounded for months

"Yes... but I'll let you in on a secret" Martha offered "All the best people are" She finished, quoting the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland; both Women cracked up and had to force a straight faces on to go back to the office, with her upset forgotten and the promise of a great day out tomorrow Martha made herself ignore the slightly faint feeling from skipping two meals in a row.

**As always, please review! All of you xD**


	6. Chapter 6

**Lots of you are saying that you're wondering where all the Huddy goodness is and I hope this sates your hunger. I just had to fully establish Martha and Cameron's relationship, and now I will give you what you have all been asking for.**

**And on with the story...**

Cuddy was at a loss for something to do which was strange; usually she would be absorbed by the daily runnings of the hospital but it was late and everything was winding down for the night**. **All her paperwork had been completed and her in tray was empty for about the first time since she had placed it on her desk. And for the last month or so she would have been worrying about Martha in some way, even if she'd only been living with Cuddy for 3 days, she had still worried from the first day she had been told. If it was last week Cuddy would have gone home and finished painting Martha's room but she didn't have that option anymore. House didn't have a case and that meant she didn't even have an argument to take her mind off things. Cuddy had never been so bored. Martha wasn't expected home from the mall for hours so Cuddy decided to screw it all and go to a restaurant to eat. _I can eat out on my own. I'm a strong independent woman_ she thought to herself resolutely as she strode from the building and made a bee line for her car.

Cuddy was placing the last mouthful of her dinner into her mouth when House arrived at the restaurant. She knew he had followed her here without even looking over her shoulder; she had picked out the low rumble of his voice all the way over the other side of the room and knew the sound his cane made when he walked. She was used to listening for House; he didn't always give warning when he would turn up. He pulled up a chair opposite her and flopped down in it, rubbing his leg with a wince, a worried expression crossed her face. This was the usual routine, he would only show his leg was hurting if she didn't make a fuss of it; she much preferred to know and keep her mouth shut than not know at all. His pain bothered her much more than she let on.

"Why are you here?" She asked, exasperated, falling into their comfortable pantomime routine of half hearted arguments.

"I thought you would be lonely. By the way, did you deliberately choose this place because you knew there would be multiple single men waiting for a god looking, rich woman to walk through the door by herself?" he questioned. His manner seemed annoyed to Cuddy, but in actual fact he was jealous that so many men were staring at her with adoring looks on their faces.

"Yes House. I was obviously trying to pull; I wasn't just trying to kill time at all." She threw back sarcastically "anyway, I do not have 'multiple single men' staring at me" she finished defensively, giving him a withering look to boot.

"Six 'o' clock, brown hair, redneck shirt" He said, leaning forwards and whispering in his usual exaggerated manner that he used when he was trying to make a point

"My six 'o' clock or your six 'o' clock?" she asked, her tone again laced with irony

"Your six 'o' clock. Always your six 'o' clock" he answered. His teasing toe gaining a slightly more sombre edge

More to humour him than anything else Cuddy craned her neck around until she could see straight behind her and searched through the crowd for the man in question; she was not happy with what she saw. A severely overweight man wearing a lumberjack shirt that was two sizes to small waved at her; a goofy, adoring smile twisted across his face. Not only was he red faced and big nosed, he had one of the most dire comb over's she had ever seen, using a thin layer of greasy hair to cover the growing bald patch. She smiled back politely before swinging back around to a self satisfied House, demanding he show her every other man in this room he had noticed checking her out. Much to her irritation he insisted on using the clock method of getting her to weasel out potential suitors meaning it took much longer than if he had simply pointed them out to her and had also ordered the biggest ice cream sundae on the menu. Unfortunately the obese lumberjack seemed to be her best option; it wasn't exactly the classiest of establishments to begin with, but her panic increased tenfold when he whispered urgently "Scrawny ginger incoming"

Cuddy burst out into flirtatious laughter, her hand covering House's. She leaned across the small table, appearing to whisper something into his ear seductively but all she said was "Play along or you're fired" they sat like that for the next ten minutes. Holding hands, bursting into random fits of giggles and having a clipped conversation whilst still appearing to be a loving couple.

"I just saved you from a super awkward convocation. I deserve medal, or at the very least a raise" He said, smiling adoringly and feeding her a spoonful of ice cream

"Your reward is keeping your job" Cuddy replied, tilting her head to one side and gazing lovingly at him.

"I could leave" More smiles and giggles followed this statement but she kicked his good leg under the table with her heel; warning him to do no such thing.

House spooned his last mouthful of ice cream into his mouth before taking out his wallet, leaving a twenty dollar bill on the table and standing up. He limped over to Cuddy and helped her into her coat then he took her hand and they left the restaurant. The second they were outside the door Cuddy dropped his hand and gratefully accepted the offer of a lift home. She had walked here from the hospital after dropping her briefcase in her car and it was a 45 minute walk back. She would have to get a taxi in the morning but she didn't mind. Martha would worry if she was late home.

The car ride back was awkwardly silent as they had just spent the last 15 minutes playing the happy couple. When they finally pulled up outside Cuddy's home, she rummaged around in her purse "How much do I owe you? Twenty?" she mumbled, looking for her wallet.

"It's fine" he insisted "All I want is for you to admit that I saved your life" he added on childishly and Cuddy sighed

"You saved me from an awkward convocation but what the hell" she murmured under her breathe and sat up straighter so she could lean into the little light thrown from the overhead lamp. "thank you for saving my life..." the sarcastic comment meant to flow effortlessly after her showing of gratitude died on her tongue as she was ensnared by his intimate gaze. Nothing existed apart from his perfectly blue eyes in that moment and her heart nearly stopped as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers softly. _House is kissing me?... House is kissing me!_ _No_ her mind told her _this can't happen. It's not allowed_. She pulled herself away from him, mumbling more thanks as she pulled open the car door and hurtled towards the house. It didn't help that when she stumbled into her lounge Martha was curled up asleep on the couch with Cameron lying beside her, watching a movie. She jumped up on seeing her boss enter

"I told Martha I'd stay until you got home. She seemed a bit unhappy about being left alone... I'll get going" Cameron said, seemingly all in one breath and began to rush out the door

"How long ago did she fall asleep?" Cuddy asked

"Uh, a few hours I guess" Cameron replied, trying her best to recall the exact time

"Her jet lag's getting better..."

"Yeah. I thought that too" Cameron agreed before clicking the front door shut and leaving Cuddy to get Martha up stairs.

"Hey, wake up; you need to go to bed" Cuddy said gently, shaking Martha's shoulder until she rolled over and stumbled towards her room. Cuddy followed her, noticing the late hour and knowing she would pay for this later than usual bedtime tomorrow.

**Well, I hope that makes everyone a little bit happier**

**As always, please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Lots of people were also saying they wished Martha would open up to Cuddy more so I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**I would just like to thank people for all the amazing feedback I got from the last chapter, a few people were expressing doubts about the Huddy factor of this story and I could tell people were getting annoyed with Cameron being such a big part of this. You do like her, secretly. She's the reason why Martha won't barge in on monumental Huddy moments. Don't knock her, she's important xD**

**And on with the story...**

Shards of sunlight danced across the emerald grass that was patterned with a maze of dew drops from a recent shower. Everything about the day said it should be blazingly hot, from the cobalt sky to the fluffy white clouds and Martha had dressed appropriately; wearing no tights with her shorts and a tank top with no hoodie. So when she stepped outside and goose bumps raced up her arms she had a strange dizzy moment where you realize the world is not as you thought it was. Her breathe clouded in front of her face obscuring her view of the graveyard and once again the paradoxical nature of her life made her feel slightly off balance. Nothing was adding up; the blazing sun that couldn't burn through the icy temperature, the sound of children playing in the park across the road and twittering birds didn't fit into the eerily sombre setting.

Panic seized in her chest as she glanced around wildly, looking for someone, anyone to help her get out, but for as far as she could see, she was the only soul in sight. So she ran, she didn't know what else to do and the further she ran the more distant the thought of actually finding anyone became. _I'm trapped_ her thoughts told her, a mixture of dread and misery seeping through her as the edges of the graveyard were becoming obscured by a fog that was sweeping forwards at an alarming speed. But then, suddenly, against all the odds, Martha spotted a tall, willowy figure stood by a gravestone in the distance. Her legs tensed again and she hurtled towards the figure as fast as she could. The wind created by her momentum causing the droplets of water deposited on her legs by the damp grass to evaporate, leaving her feeling numbingly cold. But she refused to notice, she could live with cold, but if she missed her lifeline, she didn't know what she'd do. One more step, one more heart beat, one more-

_It was Cameron_

Martha skidded to an impressive halt, breathing heavily as she gasped out the question that had been playing through her mind "Where are we? It's creepy here" but Cameron ignored her. Continuing to stare at the headstone with an indignant expression marring her pretty face. She turned to face Martha at last, but her anger crept up a notch "You condemned him to hell" she spat before turning back to the gravestone. _In loving memory of Joseph Cameron. May he rest in heaven for all of eternity. Much cherished husband, brother, son and friend. R.I.P_

"I lit a candle for him..." Martha murmured quietly, unwilling to argue when Cameron looked so seethingly livid.

"I was only nice for you because I felt sorry for you" She sneered scornfully

"I don't want you. I never did" Cuddy said, suddenly appearing next to Cameron. Martha noticed she was surrounded by the people she thought she'd become close with since she arrived.

"You'll kill somebody, you're just a kid" House

"Go back to England. Nobody wants you here" Chase

"He died because you were wrong" Foreman

Now they had all taken it in turns to impart their messages of hate towards her, they began to shout them all at once. The words mangling and twisting with each other until the individual phrases were unintelligible; just sending a tidal wave of undilutaed abhorrence over Martha. Her blind panic was increasing with every passing second until she felt totally consumed by it; her heart beating frantically against her chest, paralysed with fear. "Stop. Stop! STOP! PLEASE STOP!" She cried, but they didn't listen, only increased the volume until it was deafening.

A pair of mud stained decaying hands clawed their way from the ground she was standing on, grabbing at her ankles. She jumped away desperately, into the arms of House who pushed her back with a look of pure contempt on his face. A face had pushed its way out of its shallow grave and she expected it to be the face of Cameron's late husband, but it was her mother.

"It's time for you to pay" she rasped out in a voice that held no resemblance to the woman she remembered. Just seeing her decaying face, still covered with scars from the crash it reminded her that the rosy image she cherished was now untrue. The accident had done horrible, horrible things to her mother. She was being dragged downwards into a place where she couldn't breathe, couldn't see, she was nothing. She opened her moth to scream but it filled with soil she was going to die suffocating in the dank, sordid dirt...

Martha shot up, gasping for breath, covered in a cold night sweat, still making a horrid sound; like a sob and a scream all jumbled into one disagreeable sound. Cuddy had her arms around Martha, whispering soothing words and she should have been cringing away in embarrassment, but her sub conscious craved warmth, craved comfort and love. After her dream, where Cuddy had professed her distaste at having Martha around, she desperately wanted her to know that she appreciated this so much.

"I'm sorry" She sobbed

"For what?" Cuddy enquired, mystified

"For being such a cow, I don't mean to sound so hateful; it's just the way things come out"

"I don't think you're a cow at all" Cuddy reassured her, even though she wasn't entirely sure what a cow was in this context, all she could think of was a mooing one with black splodges named Daisy

"You don't even know what I mean do you?" Martha said with a single soft laugh

"Nope, Americanize it?"

"I don't think I know how..."

Cuddy laughed and began to stand, dropping a kiss on Martha's damp forehead

"I'll see you in the morning" she said tenderly and began to leave but Martha reached out and caught her by the wrist "Stay." She whispered, her voice resembling a scared child's. Cuddy simply nodded and climbed in next to her. Even though there was plenty of room in the double bed Martha still clung to her, terrified the nightmare would return, but she could feel sleep tugging at her and was powerless to stop it

"I miss her so much" she mumbled as sleep finally pulled her down

"I know sweetie. I know" Cuddy replied, letting herself fall into a deep slumber too.

**So this is where Martha finally stops blindly resenting Cuddy and lets her in**

**As always, please review xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Don't virtually shoot me! This is a chapter that revolves predominantly around Martha and Cameron (Mameron? xD) *Ducks to avoid the inevitable bullets whizzing past her head* but there is some Huddy *thankful the shooting has stopped* and a big surprise should be coming next chapter. I want to warn you in advance, I know some of this will seem like pointless filling, but this is really Martha's story and how she deals with her mother's untimely death so please don't knock the ways I have decided for her to show her grief. Even if she is best friends with a 30 year old doctor, she is still a child and she has no idea how to deal with this, so please no flames!**

**And on with the story...**

Martha padded down the stairs in her PJ's, letting a massive yawn out. Cuddy took this as an encouraging sign that she was becoming more comfortable here; normally she would be perfectly primped and preened before she let Cuddy see her and now she was happily wandering around the house in her night clothes. Cuddy had been woken by her alarm, but Martha had barely stirred so Cuddy decided not to wake her, the plan foiled when a large saucepan had fallen from her cupboard with a deafening clatter, rousing Martha and bringing her to the kitchen table where Cuddy was noticing the tired look of her.

"Get the bus today" Cuddy said, placing a dollar bill on the table "You look tired, go back to bed" she finished before dropping a kiss on Martha's forehead and heading towards the door where her cab was waiting. "Get on the 72 from the bus stop at the end of the street, you'll see the hospital" she called down the hallways and Martha called back confirmation that she'd heard.

She didn't want to go back to bed; last night's horrors were still making her slightly wary of sleep so she went to her newly stocked wardrobe and pondered what to wear. Finally deciding on a pair of thick black leggings she brought over from England and a oversized, navy blue jumper that came down to the bottom of her bum, she pulled her hair into a high, messy bun and dabbed minimal makeup on her face before she dashed down the stairs in search of her Converse. Pleased with her slightly ruffled look Martha picked up the dollar bill from the table and headed out, deliberately ignoring the toast Cuddy had left out for her. Touching the oval locket she never took off reminded her of her mother's slight figure and Martha stared down at her more curvy form with distaste. Noticing the late hour she dashed out the door, not wanting to be too late.

HOUSEOUSEHOUSE

Martha was late; House was already at the whiteboard scribbling symptoms down when she slipped into the room but he of course noticed her arrival "Junior! You're late." He said spinning around on his cane "Johnson" she corrected him, annoyed at the demeaning nickname "Junior" he replied, emphasizing the word. She sat down annoyed and folded her arms over her chest but House wasn't in the mood to entertain an irritated teenager so began listing the symptoms out loud.

"We've got a 29 year old female with a rash, joint pain and trouble breathing... Go."

"Lyme's" Foreman said instantly

"No headache, fatigue, weakness. Next"

"Sacrcoidosis?" Chased asked, somewhat uncertainly

"No Fatigue! No weight loss, no dry eyes. Give me something useful!"

"It could be environmental" Foreman piped up again.

"Lupus?" Martha and Cameron said in unison

"Foreman, go check the home, Chase go run the test for lupus. Cameron look through her file and see if you can find anything else, Junior, go open my mail and tell me if you find anything important" House ordered before limping out the room with Foreman and Chase following him. Cameron pulled the open file towards her and began reading a report from Princeton General's ER. Martha got up and was about to head towards House's office but black spots danced across her sight and forced their way into her peripheral vision, making her feel dizzy. Her stomach gave a loud rumble and she plummeted towards the floor.

Cameron jumped up the second Martha's body sagged, dashing to her side, shaking her gently in desperate attempt to rouse her, and it worked. Her tired blue green eyes fluttered open and she groaned quietly, rolling on her side and then sitting up, looking annoyed as Cameron flashed a pen light in her eyes.

"How long since you last ate?"

"Yesterday" Martha replied without thinking, her foggy mind still processing her surroundings

"You haven't eaten since then? You declined lunch and then had a salad for dinner! The last time before that?"

"Breakfast" Martha lied, but it sounded false even to her ears

"Don't lie to me, Martha" she scolded "Dinner the night before that?" she questioned hopefully and Martha nodded "what did you have?" she carried on

"Half a plate of vegetarian spaghetti bolognaise"

"And I know you didn't have lunch" Martha cut her off with an inquisitive stare "I knew you were lying, but you were upset so I decided not to press it... Breakfast?" but she was disappointed when Martha once again shook her head, a little sheepishly this time. Cameron was thinking about carrying on but she decided she had heard enough.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is not to eat? You've had like a thousand calories over three days... Tops! I'm getting some food into you" She finished before standing up, intending to go to the cafeteria

"But I'm not hungry!" Martha told her

"Yes. You are" she stated, annoyed "What's this about?" she questioned, her voice softer, but Martha looked down, avoiding her gaze.

"Look, if you don't tell me and you refuse to eat, I'm gonna have to admit you to put you on a nutrient drip, that means telling Cuddy-" "No!" Martha insisted, cutting her off "I thought you were my friend" she finished, looking hurt

"I'm doing this _because_ I'm your friend; if this was anyone else I would have admitted them without thinking twice. Please, tell me." She begged.

"Mum was really skinny" Martha said so softly Cameron had to lean forewords to hear her "dad is too... I used to call him Daddy long legs when I was little" Hearing her explanation Cameron's heart broke. Underneath all her maturity and smarts, Martha was still just a kid who had no idea how to deal with her mother's death. She placed one hand either side of Martha's face, forcing her to look at her. "You are not your mother. And you are beautiful" she stated with surety and pulled Martha into a fierce hug. "I'll be back in five minutes. Don't leave." Cameron told her before leaving and Martha resolved to eat whatever Cameron brought back. _She's right. I'm not mum _she thought decisively.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

A tall, gangly man walked into Cuddy's office. She was doing her usual thing of pointedly finishing what she was doing but he interrupted her.

"I'm Cal. Annie's ex" he introduced himself with a cockney accent that made Cuddy want to giggle but she kept her face sombre

"Do you want me to call Martha?" she asked politely

"Nah. You better not mention I was 'ere really. I've come with me new missus and my little girl on 'oliday" he said awkwardly

"Martha's your child too you know?" Cuddy told him, infuriated. This man had refused his own daughter a home after her mother had died and now he had come to talk to Cuddy without seeing the child in question! She was fuming.

"That's the thing. She's not my kid." He said "Look. Do a DNA test on 'er okay? I've gotta go"

"Why?"

"Look, just do it. Alright?" With that final comment he left and Cuddy was just about to get back to what she was doing before she was interrupted again. By House this time.

"Why did you run away last night?" even though she had things to do her office suddenly seemed very claustrophobic so she stood up and began to make her way to the door

"Because it's not allowed" she stated simply. She knew she was going to have to get past him to leave, but she decided to cross that bridge when she came to it.

"You ran out my car because the rule book said no?" he asked incredulously

"Yes." Cuddy said, not thinking of a better way to put it, she tried to scoot around him but he caught her by the wrist.

"No running this time" he said, lacing his fingers though hers. The contact made sparks of electricity shoot through Cuddy and she had never felt less like moving in her entire life. She let House kiss her and kissed him back with enough passion to set the room on fire. Not that either of them would have noticed.

**So there you go. Ending on a Huddy note just for you xD**

**As always, please review xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey! Thanks for all your feedback as usual and I'm loving how you all seem to be in a different time zone, so I write a chapter before bed and then I wake up in the morning and all my reviews from your 'day'. I love being 5 hours ahead of all you Americans who are reading this 3**

**This is big surprise chapter...**

**And on with the story...**

Cameron knocked tentatively on Cuddy's door and it swung open instantly, revealing a dressed down Cuddy. "You er- you texted me... told me to come round..." Cameron said, mystified. She had no idea why she had been asked to come here, and Cuddy looked like a teenager doing something they really shouldn't be.

"Can you occupy Martha for the evening?" Cuddy asked, glancing up the stairs, making sure Martha couldn't hear. Thankfully they could hear her music drifting down the stairs.

"Sure... Why?" she asked. What was all this about? What was Cuddy up too?

"Just please, don't ask questions" She pleaded, and Cameron reluctantly nodded, her mind spinning with what to do...

"Martha!" Cameron called up the stairs, recalling convocation from yesterday, her mind formulating a plan. The music cut off and Martha appeared at the top of the staircase, still dressed in this morning clothes but her hair was curly, not wavy "Your hair?" Cameron said, surprised as Martha dashed down the stairs "Oh, it curls when I don't blow dry it" She explained "Why are you here?" she asked, getting straight to the point and Cameron smiled. Even if she hadn't planned to take Martha out she still loved her like a sister and was looking forward to spending the evening with her.

"Spontaneous movie night, didn't you get the memo?" she teased

"Great! Which _film_ are we seeing?"

"The Lorax of course" she replied, watching Martha's face light up with excitement "and its _movie_, you and your strange English-isms" she joked

"Get me a cup of Rosy Lee would ya?" She joked in a mock cockney accent

"Who the hell is Rosy Lee?" Cuddy asked, trying to sound light and jokey

"It's cockney rhyming slang for tea" Martha told them both, exasperated, resolving to teach them the basics, she was quite happy to stand in the doorway and carry on the friendlily mocking convocation but Cameron noticed Cuddy's tightly wound demeanour.

"Come on, we'll be late" Cameron sated, ushering Martha out the door and throwing a 'you owe me' look to Cuddy.

The second she heard Cameron drive away with Martha Cuddy went and sat in the lounge, feigning relaxation but it only lasted a few seconds; her mind was spinning with Martha's 'dads' desperate telling her to get a DNA test. She didn't know what to expect but his expression had dispelled any doubt in Cuddy's mind that she would perform the test. She took the stairs two at a time as she went towards Martha's room, unhappy to be invading her privacy but pushing the thought to the back of her mind as she pulled a single curly strand from Martha's brush and placing it in a closable sandwich bag before shoving it in her pocket and heading to grab her car keys. Cuddy was dressed in joggers and relatively nice tee shirt, she decided to leave them on to give the message that she wasn't there for work and most defiantly did not want to be disturbed. She pulled on her trainers and a black hoodie before she drove to the hospital, not liking going into the situation blind.

Swiping the cotton swab cleanly down the inside of her cheek, Cuddy still wasn't sure what to expect, was Martha even related to her? She had to forcibly stop her hands shaking as she prepared the swab and hair and placed them into the machine that would separate out the bands of DNA determining any sort of relation. Thankfully she was almost alone in the lab thanks to the late hour, only one other person was running test, they were probably wondering why on earth the dean of medicine was personally doing a DNA test late at night in gym clothes. When the machine finally beeped, telling her to consult the connected computer for results Cuddy had to force herself to look and the results practically made her fall over. This couldn't be right. She needed confirmation.

"Excuse me, how would you say these two people were related?" she asked the nameless doctor who was working with a microscope. He came over silently, once again wondering why the dean of medicine needed a second opinion but diplomatically didn't show his surprise.

"Mother and daughter defiantly... see how half of the DNA bands matchup" he said, pointing to the bands in question before heading back to his own work.

Cuddy couldn't move, she could barely breathe; she wasn't quite sure of the semantics of the situation, but something had happened all those years ago, and her mother was the one she had to question. She printed off the results and headed home, all the while the same 3 words chanting through her mind. _Martha's my daughter, Martha's my daughter Martha's my daughter_

**I said it was a bug surprise didn't I?**

**As always, please review**


	10. Chapter 10

**I hope this chapter clears up a lot of confusion for the last chapter, a few people though they'd misread something in the last chapters but that is untrue, you know everything you're supposed to because I'm filling in the blanks now, I hope you enjoy :) I am also sorry for not updating yesterday xD**

**And on with the story...**

_FLASHBACK- 15 years ago_

_Blinding pain seared across Cuddy's inflated stomach as another contraction ripped through her system. It wasn't just her stomach that hurt when they happened, all of her muscles felt the need to contract in sympathy, meaning even after the painful muscle cramps had subsided she still ached all over until the next wave of pain rippled through her. All the pain was giving her a headache which was making her irritable and her mother wasn't appreciating the unnecessary snipes. Cuddy's higher reasoning was telling her to stop being so sarcastic and nasty to her mother who had been so supportive through all of this even though she didn't want Cuddy to leave work for any amount of time so early on in her career. She was only 25, very young in doctor years, and she conceded to keeping her mouth shut for the rest of this painful encounter. But as another contraction made her momentarily stop breathing in sheer agony her higher reasoning was told to shut the hell up by her primitive brain and she was back to screaming expletives at anyone who entered the room. _

"_I need you to push with the next contraction dear" The midwife cooed from between Cuddy's legs._

Push?! _Cuddy thought incredulously _how can I push when I barely have enough energy to breathe?_ But as the next wave of pain travelled through her Cuddy told her body to stops its whining and get on with I; the pain becoming overwhelming as she contracted her muscles further, pushing her tiny baby out of her. And when the contraction subsided she slumped back in her bed, defeated._

"_One more sweetie, you're nearly there now" The midwife said again, but her tone was determined and encouraging, most mothers normally expressed their unwillingness to push again, but Cuddy was strong willed and made of sterner stuff and even though the second push was harder than the first she managed and it was all worth it when they lifted up the baby to show her. To most people it would have seemed the ugliest thing in the world but to Cuddy, her little girl was perfect. Her skin was bright pink and covered in blood and white gunk, her eyes were clamped firmly shut and her mouth was flung wide open, wailing in pain and shock as oxygen entered her little body for the first time. She had a tiny crop of black hair, matted from all the liquid but Cuddy still held her close for those first few minutes of skin to skin contact._

"_Martha..." she whispered in awe "Or Elizabeth? What do you think?" she asked, turning her exhausted head to face her mother who merely shrugged, staring at her granddaughter adoringly._

_The midwife bundled her unnamed child away and Cuddy's mother stroked her sweat matted hair, the simple comforting action of affection was all the encouragement Cuddy needed to fall into an exhausted slumber after the most difficult 12 hours of her life. When she awoke many hours later the first thing she asked for was her baby, but her mother's face turned unexplainably sombre and she enveloped Cuddy's small hand within her own._

"_I'm so sorry Lisa. Your baby died a few hours ago, you were asleep for a long time" Cuddy was faintly aware of her mother carrying on with her bereavement speech but she wasn't listening, her mind had barely processed the idea of having another life completely dependent on her and now she was being told that she would never see this child grow, become her own person and have her own children. An overwhelming sadness ballooned inside her and she managed to choke out a single request, interrupting her mother for about the billionth time that night._

"_Can I see her?"_

"_I already went... she had a virus, she doesn't look like the child you held in your arms" she admitted, holding her hand again._

"_Oh god... lets just go. I want to go home" she insisted and got up out of bed. Her body felt like she'd just been for a 10k run without warming up but nothing felt particularly wrong so she packed her things, leaving behind the cute pink baby grow she had picked out to take her home in, the car seat, the nappies, the toys. Everything was left in a neat pile on the freshly made bed with a note that held only two words 'I'm sorry'. When she got home it only took the rest of the day to eradicate all reminders that she had ever been pregnant. The nursery was dismantled, the walls painted over, the crib and all other furniture was taken apart and placed in the boot of her mother's car where she would drive it to the nearest tip to dump. All the jars of formulae and the baby bottles got thrown in the bin along with the sterilizer. In only a few hours her house looked as if she'd never been pregnant at all and it wouldn't take her body long to recover. Now with all the people and reminders gone she curled up in her bed and worked on healing her mind as well as her house and body._

Present day.

Cuddy was pulled out of her memory by the beeping of her phone that showed she had a text from Cameron _Movie's done, going for dinner, probably got another two hours to do what you need to_ Cuddy read the text, pleased she had more time than she thought but didn't text her back. She stepped out of car and was momentarily disorientated to find herself outside of House's apartment block instead of her own home. In her spaced out, comfort seeking state she must have driven herself to a place or person that made her feel safe and cared for. She also needed to do something that involved driving for an extended period of time and she was to wired and freaked out to do it herself. So she took the stairs two at a time to his apartment and knocked on the door twice before standing in silence. He didn't answer. She knocked again, more forcefully this time and still no one opened the door so she called his name through the wood. Her voice sounded desperate and scared even to her own ears. That time, the door swung open almost instantly. She had intended on telling him to drive her to the hospital that lay nearly two hours away immediately, but his face made her feel overwhelmingly secure and she just fell into his arms, resting her head against his chest. He leant his head down and kissed her hair, sensing something had happened to make her feel vulnerable and also knowing her well enough not to probe. She would tell him when she was ready. She shifted her head around and pressed her lips to his in confirmation that whatever _this_ was it was still happening, when he kissed her back she took it as a yes and told him of her need for a ride.

"You can drive my car, but I'm in no fit state to be behind the wheel and I need to go tonight" She pleaded desperately. He looked at the clock, it was only half past 8 so he agreed and led her in silence to her car.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"No" she replied. She knew he was asking if she was ready to tell him what was going on but she also wasn't ready to know what she would find out at Mercy Hospital "Not quite yet. Soon" she promised.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

"You don't have to keep an eye on me anymore" Martha assured Cameron, almost certain she had only insisted on dinner to make sure she would eat something before bed.

"I know" she replied "did it occur to you I brought you here because I actually like talking to you..." Cameron asked sarcastically

"Yes. But considering the events of this morning I highly doubt that's the reason... Cameron?..." Martha began to ask, but trailed off

"Yeah..." Cameron prompted her

"It's my mum's funeral next Sunday and I'm going back to England Thursday to tie up all the loose ends and come back Monday. Cuddy said she can't take me because she can't leave work for that long but she said she would give you holiday if I wanted you to come and I do because I don't want to go by myself but I completely understand if you don't want to come as well" Martha finished. Her words had slowly becoming faster and more panicked but Cameron didn't need persuading, she'd wanted to go to England all her life and even if the circumstances weren't ideal and a little sober it was still a trip to England.

"I'd love to, which part are we going to" She asked

"Well we lived in Nottingham but I'm burying mum in London, near where she grew up, so we'll be going there on Saturday night and Sunday" Martha explained, just happy Cameron had agreed to come.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Cuddy and House had travelled to Mercy hospital in silence, getting there in only an hour and a half thanks to House's lunatic driving and for the first time Cuddy didn't complain about him breaking the law or of their imminent deaths, which worried House even if the whining was annoying. When they exited the car Cuddy finally snapped out of her trance because rain had started coming down in bucket loads; neither had an umbrella and Cuddy felt it was unfair to run off and leave House so they set off across the large expanse of the car park and Cuddy decided to fill House in on the situation when he reached out and grabbed her hand. Even if they both weren't entirely certain what was going on between them, she liked it and it felt permanent so she might as well tell him before he found out himself.

"I had a baby here 15 years ago when I was 25 and I got told she died by my mom, but now I have reason to believe otherwise" she told him simply. It was all summed up so easily with on sentence, it was hard to believe the whole situation was more complicated than a rubix cube that had 40 squares on each side.

"So you're getting her records to make sure that she's actually dead and if not, find out where she is and what happened to her" House said and Cuddy nodded in agreement as they strode towards the brightly lit expanse of the hospital.

"How do you plan on getting them, we don't work here" he pointed out

"'I'm the Dean of Medicine House, it doesn't take much to get what I want from any hospital" she told him and he nodded in respect at this blatant abuse of power as they pushed through the swing doors and House saw Cuddy transform. She was wearing gym clothes but they could have been the same clothes she usually wore for work with the confidence she seemed to exude all of a sudden and she spoke in a low, clear voice that demanded the best without actually asking for it. She was so mesmerising to watch that he didn't hear what was said but in mere seconds they were being sat down at a computer with full access to every file the hospital had.

_Name: Martha Elizabeth Cuddy_

_D.O.B: 20/02/1997_

_Place of Birth: Mercy Hospital_

_Current Residence: Unknown_

_Hospital Number: 37593625_

_Insurance Number: Unknown_

_Martha was the subject of a pre arranged, closed adoption to her biological aunt and her husband who reside in England at the request of the mother._

That was all that was on the first page of Martha's file and in that second Cuddy knew the DNA test had been telling the truth and House had figured out it was the same Martha that had been hanging around diagnostics. She knew he had because he was smart but he hadn't said anything, he understood she needed some time to process this information. The next page was the form legalizing the adoption that had been signed by Cuddy. Except she hadn't signed that form and that wasn't her signature, just a mediocre copy by someone who obviously knew her well. She was about to scroll to the next page when her phone rang. It was Cameron

_Where the hell are you? It's nearly half past 10_

_I'll be back by midnight_

_Midnight?! I can't just leave her on her own; I can't believe I agreed to this, what did you even need to do so bad that she couldn't know about?_

_I'll tell you both soon, I have to go. Can I speak to her?_

_Sure... MARTHA! CUDDY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!_

_Hey Cuddy_

_Hey Martha, it's late; I want you to go to bed. Cameron'll stay until I get back but I'll be there when you wake up. Goodnight sweetie_

_Night_

Cuddy Scrolled to the third and final page of the file. A paternity test

"I never even asked for this. It didn't matter, she was mine that's all I cared about." She said, dumbfounded. At first she refused to look at it but House talked some reason into her

"It's there. You mares well know who her dad is"

_Paternity of Martha Elizabeth Cuddy_

_Two possible fathers: David Malone, Gregory House_

_Paternity:_

_David Malone: NEGATIVE_

_Gregory House: POSITIVE_

_Gregory House and Lisa Cuddy are the proven biological parents of Martha Elizabeth Cuddy_

House was so shocked he couldn't speak, Cuddy pleaded with him to say something, anything. She was terrified the fragile beginning of their relationship was irreparably broken and he would leave without a backwards glance. He wasn't angry, he wasn't upset but at the same time he wasn't elated or even surprised. He just had the same three words whizzing around his head

_Martha's my daughter, Martha's my daughter, Martha's my daughter_

**So there we go, thank what you like...**

**As always, please review**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the late update, I've been a bit busy so I haven't had chance to write :( I hope you enjoy this next chapter :) and come on readers! Review, please. It helps me improve my writing and I love knowing what you think.**

**And on with the story...**

House's driving deteriorated with his mental unrest and despite her earlier silence, when he hit 100 Cuddy was forced to tell him to slow the hell down before he killed them both. He complied quickly and without complaint and Cuddy wasn't sure which was more worrying; the death wish he seemed to have or the inability to form an argument. When he pulled up in front of his apartment block he also exited the car without a word and was about to leave without telling her goodbye. She had been quite happy to put up with the silence in the car, understanding he had things to work through in his mind, but she had to know, she _needed_ to know that they were okay.

"House" she started, grabbing his wrist, forcing him to turn and face her. She was about to ask the inevitable follow up question but he cut her off with a kiss that she sank into; terrified it might be the last one. "We're okay" he said gruffly, in obvious answer to the unspoken query and she stood on her tip toes to steal another taste of his lips.

"What about Martha?" she asked quietly. She had always felt a sense of responsibility towards the teenager, but now she had discovered the nature of their relationship Cuddy had felt overwhelming love towards her and wasn't prepared to have House hurt her. "You can't tell her. Not yet, I need to talk to my mom" she explained, but House wasn't bothered about the reveal. He wanted to know how this point had arisen in the first place.

"I don't understand. We were in a relationship nearly 16 years ago and you left without a word after two week. Is this why?" he asked and when she nodded he carried on "So how can you mislay a baby? I don't understand how that adoption could have been authorised by anyone but you" he finished and Cuddy couldn't help but feel offended at the suspicious edge to his voice.

"I'm going to my mom's tomorrow to find out the intricacies of the whole situation and I will explain everything when I know myself. But there is one thing I can categorically tell you now. I didn't sign that form."

"I believe you." He told her before leaning down to kiss her again and letting her go home.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

When Cuddy slipped through her front door the hall light clicked on of its own accord, making her eyes shoot up to look at an annoyed looking Cameron leaning against the door frame with her arms folded across her chest.

"Thanks for volunteering me for babysitting duty" she said icily

"You stayed last time, I figured you'd already committed to staying this time too" Cuddy replied sheepishly

"Last time you got home at 10. Now it's half 12 and it's gonna be 1 'o' clock before I get to bed. By the way, you're late."

"You've gone to work on less sleep than this. Heck, knowing House he's put you to work on no sleep at all." Cuddy countered, feeling Cameron was making a big deal out of what medical students did most nights.

"I'm not worried about work. I'm worried about her! She's waiting for all this to go wrong and to have to go somewhere else. So whatever it is that's to special for you to involve her and send me into a situation blind better be good and she better be told in the morning." Cameron fumed, making sure to keep her voice lo so she wouldn't wake Martha.

"I'm not telling you because quite frankly it's none of your business and I can't tell her because she's already involved, it's about her"

"Well than she has a right to know!" Cameron argued, annoyed at being brick walled every time she tried to find out what was going on

"Right now, everything I know is guess work based around one fact. I'm talking to someone tomorrow and that will solidify what I think I already know. I will tell her then. Thank you for having her, goodnight doctor Cameron." Cuddy stated, ending the convocation with a heavy hint for Cameron to leave which she couldn't ignore, but before she swept out the open door she left Cuddy with her parting shot.

"Remember, you're the one who texted me and asked _me_ to keep _your _niece out the way for the night, right now, I am not Doctor Cameron. I am Allison and I just did you a massive favour. Do not pull the boss card on me" before jumping in her car and speeding down the road. Cuddy dragged herself upstairs and crawled under the sheets, hoping never to wake up again.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

For the first time since she had moved in Martha was up and dressed before Cuddy. Today she had chosen a different pair of black leggings, an oversized white tee shirt with a drawing of a camera on that she knotted so it sat under her bum, a green hoodie and many long necklaces and cool bracelets that were on show because she'd rolled her sleeves up. She had crimped and back combed her hair and was wearing loads of eyeliner. She was going for the alternative rocker look and thought she had nailed it. When Cuddy came downstairs in jeans and a tee-shirt Martha poured her a glass of arrange juice and questioned her on last night.

"House took me out for dinner, you were probably only just asleep when I came back, I was home for eleven" she lied seamlessly and started to explain her plans for the day. "I'm going to my mom's today, so I'll drop you off at the hospital and then go from there, I should be home in time to make dinner but if I'm not order in, there's money in the jar."

"Oh. Okay" Martha replied, slightly dazed by the sudden turn of events "Why can't I come?"

"My mom's not very good with surprises and she doesn't know about you so I need to tell her so she can get used to the idea of you so I can take you the next time. She can be pretty offensive and nasty if she doesn't know what's going on." Cuddy half lied, she hated being so dishonest and Martha seemed to sense something was up but she wasn't pressing it. _She can read me like a book but she's not using it against me. She's a diplomatic House. Martha is me and House all mixed up_ Cuddy thought with surprise. "Come on. You'll be late" she said as she ushered Martha to the door, pushing the thought to the back of her mind.

"You don't have to worry about what I think." Martha reassured her "I think you and House make a great couple" she finished as she slid into the car. _Well that's one less thing to worry about_ Cuddy thought sarcastically.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Cuddy knocked on her mother's door three times before letting her still clenched fist fall back to her side, her mom's face was a pantomime of shock when she opened the door to find her most successful daughter there on an unplanned visit.

"Hello" she said with a smile

"I know about Martha" Cuddy said, skipping the pleasantries and her mother's shocked smile fell.

"Maybe you should come and sit down" her mom offered

**So, a short chapter but I do love a good old cliff-hanger**

**As always, please review**


	12. Chapter 12

**Well how on earth is Arlene going to explain this away? Dun dun duuunnnn! Thanks for all your feedback as always, I love all my old faithful to pieces: **

**IHeartHouseCuddy with your constant encouragement 3.**

**Abby with your consistent 'a very good chapter' sweet short and simple 3.**

**HuddyGirl WITH YOUR CAPITAL LETTERS THAT MAKE ME SCREAM YOUR REVIEWS EXCITEDLY IN MY HEAD 3.**

**Beyondobsessed for linking every chapter to a personal little thought 3.**

**Alex for saying I'm letting this unfold well and for actually liking Cameron's involvement 3. **

**Lin12344 for just saying what you like about the chapter and not saying what you dislike, your reviews are very uplifting 3.**

**Lenasti16 for your hatred of Cameron and your super long review on the subject 3.**

**CaptinK8 for always saying something about Martha in your reviews 3.**

**Frankie Stein for always giving me an individual and unique take on my chapters 3.**

**And finally all the people that may have only reviewed once or twice so I don't have a gauge on you but just give me the feedback I need to not be able to ignore Martha. Because of all of you I can't ignore her nagging me to tell her story, and told it will be 3**

**By the way there are a few mild swear word in this chapter.**

**And on with the story...**

Cuddy let her mother fuss around making cups of coffee and making her sit down in her usual place before she let the questions come. To Cuddy it seemed like her mother just expected her to drop the subject if she wasted as much time as she could; but she drew the line when she suggested making a Sunday roast so Cuddy could stay for lunch.

"Mom. I know about Martha." She said again "I don't want coffee or a roast dinner or fussing around, I want an explanation for why the baby I thought died 15 years ago has actually been living with my sister, another thing you need to explain."

"I was too young for a baby, as were you. I was only 17 and adoption seemed the best option." Arlene said, conveniently ignoring the elephant in the room, trying to distract Cuddy with a story about her sister, but she wasn't deterred that easily.

"What about Martha, explain what happened all those years ago, because I never authorized the adoption or signed any forms. I could send you to prison mom." She threatened, hoping the shock of a potential court case would make her want to talk, and it did.

"There's no need to be so dramatic sweetheart, I was only answering the last question you asked me. I signed the adoption forms for you; it was by far the best decision, Lisa. You were too young to have a child."

"I was 25, that's a long way from 17" Cuddy retaliated

"You had been working for 1 year, as I had when I had given birth to Annie. The age is immaterial; we were both in the same position, I did what was best for you. How do you know about Martha?" she asked, hoping to derail the inquisition.

"Annie's dead, Martha's living with me, she doesn't know I'm her mother yet" Cuddy said, enjoying the look of dark surprise on her mother's face as she learnt of her eldest daughter's death. "And don't give me that crap. You weren't doing what was best for me or House of Martha; this was benefiting you in some way so cut the lies. I want the truth from you."

"I couldn't afford to support that baby for you, Lisa." She finally confessed

"You couldn't afford it?" Cuddy asked in disbelief "My child. My responsibility! I was on maternity pay. And don't say anything else; I'm tired of listening to you trying to explain away a selfish act that is actually a felony!" She shouted as she stood up and started to head towards the door "By the way, your eldest is a bitch!"

"She didn't know" Arlene said, making Cuddy stop and turn around

"What?"

"She only found out about 5 years ago that you hadn't allowed the adoption, she wanted to give Martha back, her marriage broke down, but I persuaded her to keep her. Don't blame Annie." She explained, defeated.

"Small blessings" Cuddy muttered as she stormed for the house and got in her car. She knew House wouldn't be at his apartment and the talk with her mom had taken less time than she anticipated so she decided to go home, change and go to work. It wasn't even lunch so it would be a waste to sleep the day away even if she desperately wanted to.

The first thing she did was page House when she sat down, and for the first time that she remembered he responded to his bleeper immediately, calling her desk phone.

_What did she say?_

_Come to my office, I don't want to tell you over the phone_

_See you in five_

Cuddy put the phone down and let herself wonder how to tell Martha, but the thought was too painful so she pulled herself away from it, deciding just to wing it that night when she got home, she also resolved to tell Cameron at some point if Martha didn't. Despite their icy attitudes towards each other Cuddy couldn't deny that Cameron deserved to know, but she wasn't wasting time on thinking how to tell her. Cameron would probably be told by text. Cuddy's thoughts were interrupted by House entering her office.

"What did she say?" he asked as he limped across the room and sat down

"She forged my signature on the adoption form because she thought I would end up giving up my career for her and didn't want to support me. I'm so angry I might even call the cops. That must be illegal and if it's not it should be." Cuddy fumed

"Don't call the cops. She did it out of love, no matter how misguided and evil." House reasoned. He didn't particularly know what to feel about the situation but his higher reasoning was still functioning. "I've gotta go" he finished and leant over the desk to kiss her; he was still getting used to being able to do that whenever he wanted, so he savoured the seconds when their lips had melded together.

"Do you want me to come over tonight for the big reveal?" he asked

"Come if you want me, I don't want to pressure you" she answered.

"I'll come. She's a great kid. I've been observing her all morning" he told her

"Oh. And what did you 'observe'?" Cuddy asked, he obviously wanted to share

"She's got my mind and inhibitions but your diplomacy and looks." He answered, splitting her evenly between the both of them

"How can she have my diplomacy but your inhibitions, or lack of?" Cuddy questioned, genuinely confused.

"She does what I do but she can talk her way out of it." He clarified "She's basically the perfect human" he joked

"We made that" Cuddy said, carrying on with the joke as he left the room and pulled Martha's records up from Mercy hospital, she had taken the liberty of e-mailing them to herself. Just looking at them made her feel happier, after the shock had left her all that remained was a sense of anticipation. She just wanted to see Martha become her own person, a person like her and House. And as if thinking about her summoned her Martha strode through the door.

"Hey, I heard you were back, how's your mum?" she asked with a smile

"Good thanks" Cuddy said, minimizing the records. She was about to carry on but was cut off by the pager in her drawer. This was the pager specifically designated for HR to call when someone wanted to sue because of House. She stood up and started to leave

"Stay here." She told Martha "I'll be in House's office if you need me. Don't need me" she finished before leaving with her don't-mess-with-me walk. Martha resided herself to spending the next few hours in there so she went over to Cuddy's computer to go on facebook but was cut off when she saw her name on the tab at the bottom of the page. When she opened it she didn't understand at first but after she had read everything and let her fast mind fit the pieces together she was furious. When were they going to have told her that her mother wasn't actually her mother? She printed off the pages and headed out of the office with them clutched angrily in her hand. When she reached House's office she didn't knock, she just threw the door open and strode over the the desk. House was sitting on one side and Cuddy was standing on the other, she slammed the paper down on the table so they could both see it.

"When were you planning on telling me?" She screamed and Cuddy couldn't help but wish something would go right, just once.

**Dun Dun Dunnnnnn! How unfortunate **

**As always, please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So lots of people begged me to update quickly and when have I ever let you down before? XD by the way, in my A/N last chapter every comment was followed by a seemingly meaningless '3' it was part of a love heart, ffn just didn't post the little pointy thing. Just so you were all aware XD **

**And on with the story...**

"Tonight." Cuddy said exasperated, knowing Martha wouldn't believe her "House was coming over and we were telling you tonight"

"Yeah. Right. Course you were" Martha replied sarcastically, her blue green eyes flashing with anger. Both Cuddy and House were suddenly struck by how much those eyes were like Lisa's; there really was no denying a relation of some sort.

"Seriously, we were. I only found out yesterday. I got Cameron to take you out so I could-" but she was cut off by Martha shushing her and pulling open the glass door separating House's office from the team's office.

"Cameron. Get in here" She stated in a monotone that made everyone know something was up. All three members of the team had heard raised voices and wondered what was going on. When Cameron got up to make her way into the office both Chase and Foreman shot her a you're-in-trouble look that she chose to ignore.

"Was the only reason you saw me last night because Cuddy asked you to keep me out the way?" she asked heatedly, annoyed that everyone seemed to have some sort of idea what was going on but her, especially seeing as the whole situation revolved around her birth.

"Yes" she admitted somewhat reluctantly "But I had no idea what was going on and she wouldn't tell me" Cameron tried to explain and Martha knew that she wasn't to blame but didn't want her to leave all the same. She needed people to blame and if Cameron had to be one of them so be it.

"Explain" she said, turning now to Cuddy "Tell me what happened" she insisted

"I had a two week fling with House 15 years ago-" Cuddy began but she was cut off by Cameron

"What?!" she asked incredulously

"Got a problem Goldilocks?" Cuddy replied sarcastically, she wasn't in the mood for this

"As much as I love being subjected to incorrect descriptions in sorry to say; Goldilocks was blonde genius" Cameron replied with as much sarcasm as Cuddy

"Yeah, and she also acted very innocent when she wasn't" Cuddy said through gritted teeth, all mocking gone and replaced with anger

"Excuse me-"

"SHUT UP!" Martha called over the top of them "Can you save this cat fight for later? Thanks" she finished, gesturing for Cuddy to carry on.

"I got pregnant and I gave birth to you nine months later"

"Her" Martha said quietly, interrupting her. "You gave birth to _her_"

Cuddy nodded and then carried on, resolving not to use the word 'you' again "My mom forged my signature on the adoption forms and she was sent to Annie, her aunt who lived in England. My mom then told me that she'd died and played on my grief to stop me seeing the body or asking questions." She finished, now she was past the facts her face became clouded with emotions and her eyes were shiny with tears as she looked at Martha and said "You have a grave. I mourned you" she blinked and a single tear fell that Martha blocked out of her mind. She wasn't ready for this.

"You" she said, turning to House "You I expected this from. Not this exact scenario, but you're hardly the most honest person I know. You" She said, turning this time to Cuddy "Not so much. But you?" she said finally, turning to address Cameron "I trusted you; you understood how I felt when no-one else did. You made me feel safe" Cameron had to know just how much she had hurt Martha. That was her punishment. Martha left the words hanging in the air as she stalked away from the condemned trio, but Cameron followed her, unable to let this go.

"I didn't know, I swear" she said quietly

"I know" Martha replied as they walked down the hallway "I'm just angry"

"I know" Cameron said, mimicking Martha unknowingly "I like your bracelets, very Rastafarian" She said, changing the subject and hoping they could fall back into their usual routine like nothing had ever happened

"Well to be a Rastafarian I may need some medical marijuana" She replied jokingly after a few seconds of heavy silence

"Don't push your luck" Cameron laughed, relieved that their friendship was still intact.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

House flopped down into his Eames chair and scootched over, gesturing for Cuddy to join him in the space he had freed up. She complied happily, stepping out of her heels and falling into the seat easily, placing her head on his chest and letting her legs rest over his, which were propped on the foot stool. Her bare feet hung down the other side of his legs and his arm wrapped around her, his head resting on her hair. "You know, sometimes I just wish things went as planned" She said with a sigh and looked up at House with sad eyes. "You and me both" he agreed before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers tenderly. She felt the familiar feelings of desire and love fizz up inside her and she laced her fingers through his; realising for the first time in their relationship their kisses didn't have to cut short by a more pressing matter. She couldn't escape the fact that they were in his office with two of his employees sitting behind the blinds that currently covered the glass wall, but for now she could just loose herself in the feel of him and in her topsy turvy life even single moments of calm seemed like heaven.

"I don't understand" he said simply when they finally parted

"Hmm?" Cuddy asked ineloquently, unable to form a more expressive way of questioning him in her current loved up haze

"How did _me_ plus _you _make _her_?" he clarified, his mind much more able to form coherent sentences. His sweet enquiry made Cuddy's mind focus enough to give him an answer

"I don't know. I guess we just got lucky. I'm not finished kissing you, don't make me come up there" she threatened playfully. House was all too happy to do as he was told.

**So a slightly shorter chapter showing how Martha first reacts to the news**

**As always, please review**


	14. Chapter 14

**Just the next instalment in Martha's story and someone said that the exchanges seemed quite nonchalant for their subject. I just want you all to know there is a lot of anger there but everyone's still in shock. It's a big twist of fate their still all getting used to the idea. This chapter shows the more angst filled, betrayed side of the situation. **

**And on with the story...**

Cuddy was curled up on the couch when she heard a clatter echo from upstairs followed by a loud swear word that sounded strangely paradoxical in Martha's slightly upper class accent. She sighed and wondered for a humorous moment if Martha had decided to let a wild animal loose in her house and could imagine a polar bear romping around her room. Unfortunately when she peeked around her bedroom door all she saw was Martha standing amidst a large pile of shoes with a face like thunder. The empty shelf above Martha's head and the rapidly forming bruise above her left eyebrow explained what had happened and Cuddy couldn't help but internally smile.

"My closets on the floor?" she stated playfully, but was shut up by the look of evil Martha shot at her. The phrase 'if looks could kill' sprang to mind. "What do you want?" she tried again, hoping to lighten the stormy atmosphere.

"A bag, I'm staying at Cameron's" Martha answered. Only speaking when necessary

"Of course you can stay at Cameron's. Thank you for asking" Cuddy said sarcastically, hoping to get the message across that she couldn't just come and go as she pleased

"A bag?" Martha said again, reiterating her request and hinting heavily Cuddy couldn't stop her going where she wanted, when she wanted. Cuddy sighed and rooted around in a totally different section of the closet before pulling out a large leather handbag that's cavernous qualities reminded Martha of a school bag. "A bit bigger?" Martha asked; making it obvious Cuddy's attempt wasn't good enough.

"Okay..." Cuddy said before reaching down and picking up a massive rucksack that was verging on camping size "whatever you're taking to stay the night, if it doesn't fit in here than you're doing it wrong"

"Oh." Martha said simply. A small part of her mind wondered how to not hurt Cuddy's feelings but the much bigger confused and betrayed part of her brain told her not to worry. "I'm not saying the _night. _I'm just staying." She said unceremoniously, watching the pieces fit together in Cuddy's mind.

"What? Like... indefinitely?" Cuddy asked and Martha nodded. "No." She said

"Yes" Martha insisted

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO! You need to learn that running away from a situation you don't like won't make it go away!" Cuddy shouted, not caring about pushing her over the edge. She had to learn to treat her with some respect and not just like a disagreeable landlady. But Martha stayed silent, staring Cuddy down with a look that could turn milk sour. "Don't look at me like that! I deserve some respect! You're not moving out" she was cut off by a single sarcastic laugh that just angered her further. "This won't get better unless we try, Martha! It-"

"I DONT WANT IT TO GET BETTER!" she screamed back "I DONT WANT _YOU_!" and it felt like she'd cut away the air with a knife so neither of them could breathe. "I don't want you" She managed to choke out again, but this time it was no more that a strangulated whimper.

"I know. But I'm still here anyway. Doesn't that say something?" Cuddy asked softly but she didn't get an answer because the doorbell rung shrilly around the house.

"That'll be Cameron" Martha said, her voice sounding strange and thick

"One night" Cuddy said, giving Martha the smaller of the two bags to pack and heading downstairs where she let Cameron in but stalked past her into the living room without a word, hinting not to be followed. A few seconds later she heard Martha pelt down the stairs and heard them leave soundlessly.

_You free? Xxxxx_

_I'll be round in 20 minutes xxx_

Cuddy smiled at House's immediate response, practically reading her mind. She went upstairs and changed out of her PJ's and back into jeans and a fairly nice tee shirt. She was just pulling her hair into a ponytail when she heard a key scrape in the lock and the door click open. Of course House would find her spare key rather than just ring the doorbell like a normal person. She headed back down the stairs and fell gratefully into his waiting arms, her head resting peacefully on his chest. At work her high heels all but eradicated the height difference which made for level footing in arguments about dangerous treatments, but out of work Cuddy liked the fact she was so much shorter. That he could make her feel safe with something as simple as a hug.

"Where's mini me?" he asked when they finally parted

"Staying at Cameron's" Cuddy replied and House gave a single nod, then after a few seconds, started laughing. The sound was infectious and soon Cuddy was laughing along with him

"What's so funny?" she asked between giggles

"When did we become so domesticated?" he asked her

"When did we get a daughter?" she asked rhetorically. It was nice to be able to discuss the matter with someone who didn't look like they wanted to punch you.

"You had dinner yet?" House asked, and when she shook her head he tutted playfully and led her towards the kitchen "we can make cupcakes" he said and Cuddy looked shocked, pulling him to a standstill in the hallway leading to her kitchen.

"For dinner?" she asked

"We could have them for breakfast... if you want?" he said, answering her question with another question that made her feel hot all over. Her breathing was already slightly laboured as she stood on tip toes and whispered in his ear "That could be arranged" he kissed her pulse point softly and picked her up, seeing as her bedroom was the door she had conveniently stopped him by.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

It was sort of late so Cameron and Martha had changed into their PJs and were sitting on the sofa, sharing a pot of ice cream but Cameron couldn't stop thinking about this morning's revelation.

"Ask me anything you want about the current predicament. Cuddy talked to Arlene not long after we left and got all the facts. She then told me because she said she thought you two wouldn't exactly be on speaking terms and if you had any questions she wanted you to be able to get the answers in a way you felt comfortable with." She said and Martha's idea of a no strings, easy evening was ruined so she decided to try and get a few things off her chest.

"Why didn't mum... Annie give me back?"

"She didn't know. She thought Cuddy actually didn't want you. She thought she was doing you a kindness..."

"I'm sensing a but" Martha said, prompting Cameron to carry on

"She found out when you were 10, and I know that was 5 years ago but Arlene twisted her arm. It's not her fault." Cameron finished, but was inspired to carry on "This is an awful situation no matter who you are and which way you look at it from. No one has gotten out of this scot free. But it doesn't define you, and I know this sounds harsh but you just have to suck it up right now because crappy situations don't just go away by themselves." She saw Martha open her mouth to ask something else but a glance at the clock forced her to cut their chat short. "More questions tomorrow, it's late and House has been known to page us at unholy hours in the morning. Bed"

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

House was woken by his phone, but Cuddy didn't even stir, he answered and it was the automated message from the hospital telling him he had been paged. He gave a heavy sigh and scribbled Cuddy a note as he got dressed

_Got paged, gonna have to give the cupcakes_

_A rain check, love you, House xxx_

As he left the house, he paged all of his team and headed towards the hospital.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

An annoying incessant beeping pulled Martha and Cameron from their slumbers. Cameron, being used to this behaviour, rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock. 4:30, they'd only had 5 hours sleep, this was going to be fun. Martha on the other hand just rolled onto the recently vacated side of the bed with a groan.

"Up. Go. Shower" Cameron mumbled, pulling Martha from the sheets and kicking her towards the bathroom "Hurry up. I need one too"

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Cameron and Martha were later than everyone else and when they walked in Foreman, Chase and House were already seated around the table eating bagels.

"Did you two shower together?" House asked sarcastically, repeating himself from the last early hour case when he had teased Chase and Cameron. She was about to shoot back the same no as before but was cut off by Martha.

"Yes! I'm in a lesbian relationship with your employee that is twice my age, good catch" she snapped back with equal sarcasm "There better be a bloody good reason why I'm out of bed at this ungodly hour." She finished, her mocking tone gone.

"She is so yours!" Cameron said through laughter "I didn't even know your type of sarcasm could be replicated, never mind genetic!" she finished.

"Genetic? Have we missed something?" Chase asked **(IN HIS AUSTRALIAN ACCENT WITH AN ENGLISH TWANG THAT HE CONFIRMED WHEN A PATIENT ASKED HIM IF HE SPENT TIME IN ENGLAND!) **

"Yes, didn't you get the memo, turns out I'm House's kid" Martha replied unhappily, she did not do well in the mornings.

"You're kidding" Foreman stated unbelievingly

"Unfortunately not." Martha replied realising she didn't have a problem admitting to House, just Cuddy. This was going to take longer to figure out than she thought.

**So there we go, hope you all enjoy**

**As always, please review**


	15. Chapter 15

**So, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this chapter, usually I have it all mapped out in my head, or have a House style epiphany but as I'm writing this authors note I currently have nothing so I apologise if my writing seems a little... forced.**

**And on with the story...**

Martha was seriously flagging, her thoughts were scattered, her muscles weak and aching and she could barely string a sentence together. She was sat hunched over the file, her eyes blurring out for a few seconds before focusing back and she just had to start back at the begging; progress was painfully slow. She was mildly aware of House sitting in his office, performing some fancy trick with his cane, Cameron was sitting in a similar position to Martha, but she had a cup of coffee and was making much faster work of the file. Chase was sitting on the floor with the file also in his hand, staring at House's list of symptoms and Foreman was in the kitchen area of the outer office, finding some food.

Cameron glanced sideways at her friend; she had been keeping a very close eye on her all day: making sure she didn't skip a meal, giving her glasses of water when she adamantly refused coffee and making her take a 20 minute nap over lunch. Getting up at half past 4 after 5 hours of sleep and still being awake at 8 in the evening was a skill learnt and aided by caffeine. If Cameron felt like death warmed up after countless cups of coffee and more experience at this she couldn't imagine how Martha felt. Looking at the half cup of coffee she had left she placed it in front of Martha.

"It'll make you feel better" she promised and got up to do another cup for herself, piling sugar into the ebony liquid. Martha looked at the mug like it held all that was wrong with the world before picking it up and downing it in one go. When she swallowed the coffee she had to work hard not to choke it back up and spray it all over their work. It tasted _awful_.

"You're trying to poison me, that tasted like all the puppies in the world had just chocked on all the kittens and babies. _Jesus._" She finished and coughed for good measure. Despite her hating it, she did feel slightly more alert so she picked up her copy of the file and set back to reading the page she had been working on for the last half an hour, finding much more success.

"Come on, we need an idea or House is going to come in here and beat us all to death" Foreman said after a few more minutes of silence.

"Lymphoma" Martha said and got looks of pure confusion from everyone in the room "You said idea. You never said good idea" she explained before letting her head fall to the table.

"Well if we're doing it that way... Sacrcoidosis!" Foreman said with a smile.

"Lyme's" Chase suggested playfully

"Lupus!" Cameron said "No wait it can't be lupus..." she corrected herself

"Because it's never lupus!" they all finished in unison before falling about laughing, none of them noticed either House of Cuddy's arrival until House slammed his cane down on the table.

"Home time" Cuddy said to Martha, expecting her to follow; she should have known Martha never did what he was expected to. She stayed where she was and said

"We're not done" and going back to the file

"_You_ are, you're pushing 16 hours with no sleep and I'm tired too, so you're coming home"

"I'll stay with Cameron again" Martha replied, stifling a massive yawn

"No! We talked about this last night, you're not moving out!" Cuddy insisted

"I thought you were being sarcastic this morning" Chase said playfully, trying to lighten the atmosphere but he was shut up by the glares of the 4 people that were actually involved.

"Does it turn out Cameron's somehow your mom or something?" Foreman asked undeterred and Cuddy looked extremely hurt before turning to House, silently asking for an explanation.

"She told them all I'm her dad this morning but not that you're her mom..." he said trailing off as she turned to Martha and uttered a single word in a whisper "Why?" but three letters was all it took for her to explode.

"Because you don't want me! Not now, not as I am. You want the baby you lost 15 years ago! You want over a decade of scraped knees, tea times and first days of school! You can't have them, they're gone. I'm not your miracle!" she finished before turning to leave, but Cuddy caught her by the wrist. Determined that she would storm out and be followed by Cameron who would hold her hand and wipe her tears; it was her turn.

"I know. I know you're not my 'miracle' as you so eloquently put it. I never knew Martha Cuddy, she died 15 years ago and you replaced her. I mourned my little girl and long ago I learned to accept that as the way my life had turned out. I don't want to know Martha Cuddy; I want to know Martha Johnson. _As she is_." Cuddy stated, and confident she had done enough to tide them over until morning she let go of Martha's wrist "Everyone's tired, can we talk about this in the morning?" she suggested gently and Martha nodded wordlessly; her mind spinning at this new revelation.

**I'm sorry; I can't force the words out like that anymore so this chapter is just going to have to be very short. I hope you have enjoyed by admittedly awful writing. I also think its strangely weird how no one finds it strange that a 15 year old is hanging out with doctors and quite honestly holding her own xD**

**As always, please review xx**


	16. Chapter 16

**So I hope this chapter makes up for the last awful one xD**

**And on with the story...**

Martha sighed as she looked at her meagre wardrobe, and was contemplating just throwing it all in her suitcase; it would certainly fit. She put a pair of thick black tights to one side along with a pair of bright green shorts and a prettily patterned beige jumper with elbow length sleeves for the flight that night. All clothes she had brought over from England. The sun was burning brightly outside her window so she had already dressed in her denim shorts and a David and Goliath tank top that had a picture of cartoon sushi rolls on the front and the whimsical saying 'this is the way I roll' written across the bottom. She sighed once again as she contemplated which shoes she would be forced to wear today. All she'd brought from England was a pair of red high topped converse, Classic black and white check Vans and her beloved purple Doc Marten boots; none of which screamed 30 degree heat to Martha oddly enough. She was beginning to pull every item of clothing she had from her chest of drawers and throwing them in the suitcase when Cuddy slipped through the door and placed a box on Martha's bed.

"I got you this" She said simply, waiting to see how Martha reacted. It was the new ipad and 3 days ago Martha would have squealed and said she loved at but when she looked at it all she could see was a bribe. "I have a computer in England, I'll probably be bringing it back with me" the second the words left her lips she regretted them. Cuddy's face fell and she started to leave, but Martha couldn't do it; she wasn't a cold person.

"Oh my god, I'm such a ditz!" she said, which made Cuddy turn around "I'm still all spaced out from yesterday to be honest. I didn't realize it was an ipad, I thought it was a laptop... Thank you" she told Cuddy with as much sincerity as she could muster, flashing a big grin.

"I'm making breakfast downstairs" she said, smiling back at her "when's your flight?"

"Not till tonight, so we arrive in England in the afternoon... I wish you could come with me" She managed to get out when actually she had never wanted anything less, but seeing Cuddy's face light up with happiness softened her a little. Until she had found out Martha had kind of liked Cuddy, she hoped someday they could get back to that.

"I can't leave work on such short notice" She said apologetically "I'll find you some sandals?" she asked, as if a pair of shoes would make up for it but Martha just nodded and gave her thanks, reacting like Cuddy had just saved her day when actually she was just wondering when she became such a good actress.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

House wandered into his office to find a raven haired teenager residing in his chair with a face that could have turned milk sour.

"Hi. Your sitting in my chair so I have to deal with you before I can sit down." He stated simply, prompting her to tell him what she wanted so he could get on with his day.

"Nice to see you too _dad_" she flung back sarcastically. There seemed to be something about House that put her at ease; he reminded Martha of her old drama teacher. A freakishly tall man that came out with witty comebacks to everything you said. Martha liked the feeling of slipping into a semi-familiar routine "She gave me an ipad this morning. Does she think expensive gifts are just gonna make this go away?" She said when he didn't reply to her playfully snide remark.

"Is that it? She's been doing that since you arrived and you've not had a problem until now"

"She's not!" Martha told him, outraged

"She gives you money whenever you ask for it; she gave you her credit card so you could buy clothes. She's been showering you in gifts since the moment you arrived only this time you didn't get to choose. Stop being spoilt and go and apologize for whatever you said" he stated and gestured for her to leave and do as she was told.

"I've not said anything... well nothing spiteful. If you go and talk to her she'll say were getting closer than ever" Martha couldn't keep the bitter edge from her voice

"When actually you've never felt further away?" he asked sarcastically "if you want emotional crap go talk to Cameron" he said and once again gestured towards the door, he should have known Martha never did as she was told.

"I don't want her opinion! I want yours."

"You want my opinion? Why don't you tap into the bit of you that's me and think about this logically. She's been screwed over just as badly as you have and is about as much to blame for this situation as you are so stop treating her like she's been plotting this all along. Go talk to the woman who has"

"Cuddy won't let me talk to Arlene" Martha said, annoyance replacing the bitterness. She did want to talk to the woman who had organized all of this but Cuddy kept on stopping her

"She's trying to protect you but I don't care like she does... Here's 20 dollars. Go out the main entrance of the hospital and turn left, walk down the street for about 10 minutes until you see the bus stop for the 98 bus. Get on and ask the driver to tell you when to get off for 1364 Beech dale crescent. I'm giving you the rest of the day off, now leave."

Martha nodded gratefully and swept gracefully from the room going in search of her answers.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Martha stood in front of the impressive oak door and raised her hand to press the button on the doorbell. Opting for the slightly more tame option than Cuddy who had knocked loudly on the polished wood. After a few seconds the door swung open revealing a well groomed woman in her 60's who held a passing resemblance to both the women she now called her mother.

"Hello?" she said, prompting Martha to introduce herself

"I'm Martha. I think you have some explaining to do"

"Maybe you should come in" Arlene replied, feeling history repeat itself. She also had the feeling this convocation wouldn't be any less awkward than the first.

**So what will be said?**

**As always please review**


	17. Chapter 17

**Well as I write this at 1 in the morning English time I have just got home from a party so I apologize if my writing sounds a bit... socially confused. And Jesus my feet kill, I'm never wearing heels all night again! Pain is not a strong enough word to describe how my feet feel. For all you young, innocent readers out there, never wear heels all night, or do the Can Can in them that just leads to disaster everywhere...**

**And on with the story**

Martha's usual confident, elegant walk became clumsy and awkward as she stepped into the unknown realm of Arlene's house. Cuddy's place was comfortingly messy in a homely way whereas Arlene's was pin neat and filled with collectable ornaments of dogs. Martha was feeling more and more freaked out with every breathe she took and decided to conveniently ignore the unsettling surroundings to keep what little sanity she had left. She perched on the edge of her seat looking nervous; she could almost see how she looked as if observing her life in third person. Like a scared kid that knew she was doing something she should be. So Martha crossed her legs and tried to give herself a devil-may-care expression to exude a careless form of confidence.

"What do you want to know Martha?" Arlene asked helpfully and Martha had to suppress the urge to slap the smug grin off her face. "About mum. Tell me about Annie." She replied icily, daring her to refer to Cuddy as her mother but Arlene had picked up on her well controlled anger and was smart enough just to tell what was asked of her.

"She found out she was adopted when she was 16, not much older than you, when me and her adoptive parents decided to tell her. She was about as happy with the whole situation as you seem to be but quickly adapted to the idea of me being her mother. As you will adapt to the idea of me being your grandmother." Arlene said civilly, just giving the facts and nothing more.

Martha's hands balled into hard little fists in her lap "I'm sorry to break it to you, but you're not my Grandma. I think Lisa's disowned you." She snarled, not being able to help the snide edge to her voice.

"Well we both know that's nonsense" Arlene stated with a smile as false as a spray tan

"Really? I asked her to come with me this morning and I think her exact words were: I will never see that woman again for as long as I live." Martha lied seamlessly with no sign of deception in her voice. She wanted this woman to hurt. She wanted her to feel lost and confused and alone in a world where north had suddenly become South and you felt like you were drowning on dry land. She wanted her to know what her 'caring' had _caused_.

Arlene decided to ignore the remark on her daughter's feelings and repeated the invitation to ask anything.

"How did dad not know mum wasn't really pregnant?" Martha asked, swallowing a sarcastic insult that would probably have gotten her thrown out

"Erm, I think Lisa lied to Greg-" Arlene started but Martha cut her off, fuming. _She's going way to far_ her mind growled but her curiosity kept her anger under control.

"Let me rephrase that. How did _Cal _not know _Annie _wasn't really pregnant?" Martha asked through gritted teeth

"She told me when I asked her if she was willing to adopt a baby in nine months time that she and Cal had just gone on a break and then when she got you she rang me and said she'd called Cal and told him she'd had his baby. He wasn't in a relationship with her during the pregnancy" Arlene told her and wasn't surprised when Martha nodded and rose to her feet, intending to leave. But Arlene's impeccable etiquette couldn't let Martha leave without an offer of lunch and a ride back to the hospital.

"If I never see you again it'll be too soon. Rot in hell" she spat back in answer before storming out the door and fuming the whole way back to the hospital. She knew House had given her the rest of the day off but she couldn't stand the thought of sitting alone for hours silently plotting ways to kill an elderly woman.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

The latest case wasn't exactly over Martha's head, she understood but the diseases mentioned were complex and enough to give her a headache if she sat in there for too long so when she arrived back outside Prinston Plainsboro she decided to pay Cuddy a visit. When Martha slipped around the door she saw Cuddy was on the phone and flopped down onto one of the many chairs, committing to silence until the phone convocation was finished.

"If I never see you again it'll be too soon. Rot in hell" Cuddy quoted at her and Martha knew she had been on the phone to Arlene and strangely, she didn't feel at all ashamed for such a nasty outburst.

"I was angry" She explained

"After terrorizing my mother..." Cuddy once again accused

"She deserves to be terrorized! She needs to know what her twisted form on love had done to a group of innocent people!" Martha all but shouted, livid but for once not at Cuddy.

"Well yes. I have to agree with you on that just don't do it again, alright?" Cuddy asked, just trying to keep the peace. Martha didn't say a word, didn't even nod her head in agreement, but her eyes told Cuddy everything she needed to know. Martha wouldn't be making any more unplanned visits to Arlene and when Martha saw relief flash over Cuddy's face she swept soundlessly from the room. A headache was better than entertaining the notion that she may actually like Cuddy.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

It bothered Cuddy more than she let on seeing Martha look so alone in a place as big as an airport and as much as Cameron cared for Martha; her stick thin physique didn't exactly scream body guard. She could tell Martha had been lying that morning, she didn't want her to come with her, but Cuddy wished she could, if nothing else than to make sure she got off the flight safely.

"Look after her" She whispered to Cameron as Martha was preoccupied with the departures bored hanging from the ceiling. Their flight had just been called. "Promise me" She pleaded.

"I promise" Cameron whispered back, touched at Cuddy's concern.

Martha could sense the unspoken tension floating between them all so she didn't speak a word as they all walked to the departure gate; instead she looked at the setting sun blazing in the west horizon. Sending doomed tendrils of light spilling as far as it could into the ever darkening sky. It was only moments before she went through the gate that Cuddy pulled her into a fierce, protective hug. The day before Martha would have shrugged her off and shot her a look that would have sent her backing away rapidly. But instead she hugged her back, pleased that someone still cared for her. Needing the comfort of such an affectionate gesture. She didn't know what would happen in England but she knew it wouldn't be easy on her, was it ever?

**So there we go, hopefully not to socially confused**

**As always please review... Night night**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for taking so long to update and please don't hate me but this is very much Martha orientated from this point onwards. You will get some check backs with House and Cuddy but please remember she is in a different continent with CAMERON not Cuddy so this is more Martha getting closure and maybe Cuddy and Cameron starting to hate each other a little less xD and I also wanted a language barrier moment not just a playful convocation before the 'spontaneous movie night'. So this will probably make English people laugh because thinking it up made me smile and I'm not sure how Americans will find it but it should be just as funny. There had to be a moment of people speaking English that didn't actually seem like **_**English **_**I'm sorry, it just had to be done!**

**Also i didnt mention it in the last chapter but we have cracked the 100 review mark, but thats no reason to slow down now. i still love hearing what you have to say! **

**And on with the story**

Cameron gripped the armrest tightly as the plane took off and Martha felt her stomach take a holiday to her shoes. She swallowed hastily, determined not to lose her dinner and closed her eyes, hoping to diffuse the nauseating feeling emitting from her stomach. Cameron wasn't feeling too tired because it was only 10pm when they took off, not too late for her but Martha was still between time zones so she felt she was somewhere in the middle of the night, but thankfully not 3 in the morning which was the real time in England. She fell into a light and uneasy slumber which was filled with half formed dysfunctional dreams that made no sense. Her mother was dancing around her mind wearing a summery dress and had daisy's weaved in her hair, singing a song by The Beatles. _Here comes the sun do do do do, here comes the sun and I say, it's alright it's alright._ But slowly the idyllic summer scene was starting to turn sour. The sun was covered by a thick blanket of clouds that had swept away the agreeable weather and her mother's voice was becoming shill and crackly. The pretty dress started to tear and her beautiful mother that was so full of life began to decay in front of her eyes, beginning to resemble he nightmarish corpse that haunted Martha's dreams the night she began to trust Cuddy. Her eyes flew open with a gasp and Martha slumped back into her chair, feeling more tired than when she started but reluctant to see what sick images her mind had created for her.

"You okay?" Cameron asked, worried about Martha. She had suspected for a while that Martha suffered from nightmares what with the bags under her eyes. At first they could have been attributed to jet lag and even if Martha wasn't fully on American time yet they should have been getting better, not worse. This was the first sign Cameron had that her theory was correct and then Martha nodded and gave an unconvincing smile she desperately wanted to pull her into a hug but aeroplanes didn't exactly have that sort of leg room in them. They were interrupted by the flight attendant busting past them.

"Refreshments dear?" she asked in a deep south American accent, Martha desperately wanted to laugh as the woman also looked a little like Dolly Parton what with her bleach blonde bouffant, massive bust and skinny physique. Cameron asked for coffee whereas Martha requested tea and a plain biscuit for comfort. Normally she would opt for a chocolate digestive but her unsettled stomach told her to steer away from dairy.

"Going home after a vacation then?" she asked as she placed a tiny cafetiere and mug in front of Cameron and reaching for an equally small teapot

"Something like that" Martha muttered non commitedly as the woman placed a small metal teapot in front of her, a tea cup and two scones in a plastic wrapper on a plate. "Erm, I asked for biscuits, not scones" Martha pointed out timidly, her English disliking of confrontation coming to the forefront of her demeanour.

"Yeah. Biscuits" the woman said, pointing to the scones and Martha realised that there was a massive miscommunication due to the difference between American English and English. Martha started to flounder desperately for the right word; she knew most Americanisms and made an effort to understand them even if she refused to use them. But this had stumped her; she carried on thinking until a word that didn't quite fit but was better sprung to her mind.

"Cookies. Do you have any cookies?" she asked with a frustrated edge to her voice, it was a new experience knowing what she wanted to say, but not having the right words to say it.

"Ahh" the woman replied in affirmation and took the scones from Martha's plate and replaced them with a large chocolate chip cookie that made Martha's stomach turn. Seeing the look on her face and feeling her unwillingness to grapple with a language she was supposed to know any longer, Cameron decided to put her out of her misery. She had a rough idea what Martha wanted; she had spent 10 minutes looking for them when they went shopping a few days after she arrived.

"Sweetmeal biscuits" she told the woman who nodded with understanding and took the cookie away and replaced it with a 3 pack of digestive biscuits and when Martha flashed a smile and paid she dropped another packet onto her mini dining table and apologized for the confusion before moving on.

"This is digestive biscuit!" she hissed to Cameron who just laughed

"No. It's defiantly sweetmeal" she replied with a giggle, mocking Martha playfully

"Well for the next week it shall be you who suffers at the hand of a language barrier old bean" Martha shot back in a mock posh English accent which made them both collapse in laughter.

"Hey! I speak English thank you very much!" Cameron replied, over egging her American drawl in the same way as Martha was with her accent

"Barely!" she replied playfully, switching back to her usual voice.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Somewhere around midnight American time Cameron fell to sleep along with just about every other passenger on the aeroplane but Martha felt to wired to sleep, and also still had the threat of a nightmare hovering at the edges of her mind so she decided to stay awake, even though it was late on whatever clock she was currently running on. Cuddy had told her before she left that their tickets allowed them to use the Wi-Fi on the plane so she pressed the button requesting assistance and asked for the password, showing them her ticket. When they came back with a piece of paper they told her that it was a unique password and could only be used for one device at a time before leaving with a yawn and Martha pulled the box containing the Ipad out of her bag. It was quick and easy to set up and even if Martha had a deep disliking of apple products she couldn't deny that sending you the product fully charged did have some sense to it. The first thing she did was check her facebook, she hadn't logged onto a computer since she left England a week ago so when she opened her homepage she wasn't surprised to see 8 friend requests, 12 inboxes and 86 notifications floating at the top of her screen. She sifted through the massive amounts of information, avoiding all notifications that stated a friend had posted something on her timeline. Martha didn't need 'so sorry for your loss' messages right now. After replying to all of the inboxes and liking various photos, poking people back and accepting friend requests she downloaded the free app for Skype and logged in sending out a call to 'Jase Face'. After a few rings a groggy boy with messy brown hair and bright green eyes that were heavy with sleep appeared on her screen.

"Martha!" he exclaimed in happy surprise, a smile spreading across his sleepy features. His tiredness left Martha feeling a little confused a she glance at the clock on her computer; it said half past 12 and Jason didn't usually go to bed until at least 1 in the summer holidays. Then she understood. Half 12 American time; half 5 English time.

"Oh God, Jason I'm such an idiot, its half 5 in the morning over there, I'll go away let you sleep" she said and was about to hang up but her cut her off

"No! No. I've not talked to you in a whole week, I'll let it slide that you've gotten me out of bed at this ungodly hour" he teased with an easy grin that Martha couldn't help but return.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

Cameron's ensemble of facial features screamed 'I'm tired' as they were all herded off the plane and into the freezing cold sheet rain that made both of them shiver.

"So who were you talking to, I sort of half woke up and heard you... what time is it?" Cameron said

"I was talking to Jason and erm, its 8am English time" She replied smoothly and watched Cameron's eyes light up with curiosity. This was the first glimpse anyone had gotten of Martha's life in England that was probably the opposite of her solitary existence in America.

"So, who's Jason?" she asked in the usual way people did when they were implying romantic involvement.

"A friend" she replied forcefully as a boom of thunder rolled across the sky

"It's July!" Cameron exclaimed in exasperation, letting the subject of Jason slide. For now.

"You're not in Kansas anymore... welcome to wonderland" Martha said with a grin before grabbing Cameron by the wrist and running full pelt towards the doors to the airport.

**Just thought I would make my fictional English summer live up to the actual one. We've just had a thunderstorm in the middle of August and it's barely stopped raining for days -.-**

**As always, please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey all you people out there! Hope you enjoy my chapter! It's not got much of Cameron in this one, just Martha and Jason, or if you remember his Skype name better, Jase Face xD. I'm trying to give Martha a history and not just a past that everyone knows is tragic and nothing else. She was a person and the death of her 'mother' doesn't define her, so here we go.**

**And on with the story...**

The rain didn't improve during the taxi ride from the airport; it still fell in grim grey sheets of coldness. The unforgiving weather reminded Martha of a summer's day long ago when her whole family had decided to go for a picnic. She had played all day in the frosty air even though it was the middle of august; she remembered playing on the ship with a family friend who was 1 year older than her. Martha had hung off bars that seemed perilously high at the time and ledges that seemed unbelievably thin to impress him. She was determined to show him 5 year olds could be just as fun as 6 year olds as time seemed so impossibly stretched when you're young. When they sat down to eat on the damp grass clouds had rolled over the watery sun and rain had begun to cascade onto them. Her father had placed a large umbrella in her hand to hold over her and her friend while they ate and they sat in the perfect oasis of dry as streams of water flowed past them and off the umbrella. She remembered the day well, it was the first time she met Jason. He was Annie's best friend's son, they had gone to the same school but he was the year above and it wasn't cool to play with girls at break time, even if they could do the monkey bars in 5 seconds flat. It was that trick that got her into his group of friends, he knew she was tougher than she looked but they didn't and that was how she proved it. She had hung out with them ever since, sitting next to the younger ones in class, playing spies and explorers at lunch time and running around until she couldn't breathe anymore. Her mother didn't like her playing boisterous games and not being friends with the petit little waifs in her class that did ballet on the weekends. But she soon warmed to them as they all got older, even if they got into trouble she always insisted they were good lads at heart, and they really were. She didn't even say anything when Thom turned up absolutely bladdered one night and slept in their garden because nobody answered the door at 3am, she just gave him painkillers and toast and then sent him home. It was hard to think her whole life had started because of one rainy afternoon in August; but she supposed anything could happen in the rain.

"We're here" Cameron said, but Martha didn't respond, just stared out her window, lost in her own mind "Martha?" she asked and noticed her eyes focus on the white house that harboured so many memories. "You're sure you don't want me to come in with you?" she asked, worried that Martha hadn't said a word, but she seemed to snap out of her trance quickly and Cameron couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Nah, I only want a few things and its tipping it down, I won't be two minutes" Martha reassured her and hurtled out of the car, through the gate and around to the porch where a familiar figure stood in baggy jeans and wearing a lopsided grin that she hadn't seen in too long. "Jason!" she called and threw herself into his arms before unlocking the door and rushing out of the cold. He stood there in the slightly warmer but not much hallway as she flitted around the house, avoiding the stairs for now. She picked up her school bag and put her phone (which she had been without for a whole week) the charger, a few books to keep her occupied and her laptop even though she had a shiny new Ipad. Jason thought she would hesitate before barrelling up the stairs but she barely paused as she bounded up them and crashed into her room. Martha was conveniently ignoring her surroundings. Not taking in the cream wallpaper with green flowers crawling up it on one wall or the plain white other walls. She didn't look at the cream wood furniture or her grey iron bed. She just put a few items of clothing she had missed into the bag along with her project on the human body and all her stationary. There was one more thing she wanted, that she couldn't leave without but it was in the one place she refused to think about going until the time came; it was too painful. She paused for much longer outside the inoffensive white door before she took a deep breath and catapulted herself into the room. It was pretty with plain white walls save the feature wall which was red with white bold print flowers creeping up. There was a honey coloured double bed that matched the chest of drawers and a flat screen T.V on the wall opposite the bed between two more white doors. Martha knew these led to a walk in wardrobe and an en suite. She strode over to her mother's bedside table and picked up the photo of them together in the pretty frame and placed it in her bag. She desperately wanted to leave but she couldn't bring herself to move. She didn't know how much time had passed before Jason poked his head around the door.

"Can you remember that time when we were both 6 and it was my birthday in 2 weeks. And I was really upset because my parents wouldn't take me to that theme park I read about in a comic book? And I said we should run away so we did. We got all the way to the train station, don't ask me how. Can you remember that creepy man that tried to get us to go into his car? Can you remember how fast we ran and how our parents didn't even notice we'd gone? My mum had thought I was round at yours and your mum had thought you were round at mine. Well that man was scary, this isn't. Death isn't something to be afraid of; it's just the end of a story. And if you loved that story that it's sad. But it's never scary. So don't be afraid" he said, reading her face perfectly as always. They were each other's open books. They could never hide anything. He understood she was scared; he just didn't have the context so she tried desperately to explain.

"I'm not scared of death. I'm scared of who I am. I don't know who I am anymore" She said, knowing it explained nothing

"You may not know but I do. You're the same person you were last week and 6 months ago and 6 _years_ ago. You've not changed" he reasoned. Jason could see her slipping away from him, so his immediate reflex action was to hang on harder, he want letting her go without a fight.

"But I have. This isn't home anymore" she choked out, close to tears

"America?" he asked tentatively, not knowing if he wanted an answer. He just about collapsed in relief when she shook her head.

"I don't have a one anymore. I'm home_less_" she cried hopelessly.

"Home is where your heart is. What's your heart saying?" he asked her. She wasn't gone; she just needed to find herself again. Not gone; just lost.

"I don't know. It stopped dead three months ago in sympathy" she said, finally letting a single tear slip down her cheek. His heart was hurting for her so he stopped talking and just pulled her towards him. He was taller than she was by a good 5 or 6 inches so her head fit easily under his chin, and she just cried.

"What do you want?" he asked. She was the cleverest person he knew but she had always responded to direct questions that got straight to the point. She was like that as a person; she didn't beat around the bush.

_You. I want you_ her mind said and she was left reeling. Jason was her best friend; she'd known him 10 years. She needed him now more than ever, and a friend was better than nothing. A friend is what she needed. "Time." She insisted and he let her go. She stepped away somewhat reluctantly and picked up her bag. He wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumbs and agreed to go to her hotel and see her tomorrow.

"Thank you" Martha said simply

"I've known you ten years I've seen blood, never mind tears" he teased

"Well you did push me off that wall when I was 11 and I told you I didn't have good balance" she said back, laughing at the memory. They left together but he was a faster runner, he always had been, and it was still raining so he sprinted to the bus stop with a sad backwards glance that she didn't see as she jogged towards the taxi that was still waiting at the side of the road.

"Who was that?" Cameron asked as Martha slipped into her seat

"Jason" She replied simply, as if his name explained their relationship perfectly

"Again with Jason? Are you sure there's nothing going on?" Cameron teased lightly and Martha just rolled her eyes, unwilling to lie about her newly found feelings. She plastered an easy smile onto her face and fell into the playful convocation thankfully.

**I know this seems pointless but you all need to know who Martha was before all this happened and it seems she may be in love with her best friend. Does he love her back though? That's the million dollar question xD**

**As always please review**


	20. Chapter 20

**Firstly I would like to apologize for not updating in such a long time, I hope you're all still with me :)**

**Secondly, this is another Martha chapter because the Huddy chapter I have in mind won't fit with the current time scale, but it will be up soon, promise. I'm just gonna be developing Martha a little more, so we're more aware of who she was before her 'mother' died and putting a bit more pressure on her and Jason's relationship too. I know this is listed under romance for House and Cuddy, but now Martha's been let loose upon FanFiction I just can't leave her alone :P**

Martha woke naturally and very slowly, she rolled over and stretched and dozed peacefully for what felt like hours. When she finally peeled her eyes open, she thought the clock was broken, but it distinctly said 7:00am. She couldn't understand it at first, but then she remembered what had woken her up late last night, Cameron had gone to bed at 4am, in American time that was about 11 which wasn't a bad bedtime but she would be tired today. Annoyed to find herself completely alert and awake at 5 past 7 in the morning, Martha swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded over to the window in only her large PJ tee shirt, she pulled the curtains away from the large window with a flourish, her eyes welcoming the light gladly. Her room was instantly illuminated by the soft glow of early morning sunshine, everything seemed to glow gold at this time of day, even the soaked pavements of yesterday's rain storm looked less forlorn in the pale golden hue.

Turning towards her bag, she got ready to go swimming and padded quietly through the main area, conscious of the time difference that would leave Cameron feeling extremely rough today. Stopping to look in the large mirror in the hallway she was suddenly struck by how much had changed in a week. She looked thinner, but she wasn't sure if that was just because her 'mum' had died 3 months ago which led to a severe cut down on calories or if she was just getting older. Her hair was longer and thicker and she had taken to wearing it in its natural curly form instead of blow drying it so it waved gently past her shoulders. It made her look more like Cuddy she observed and for once the thought didn't make her feel angry and lost and confused. She banished the thought to the back of her mind and clicked the door shut behind her smoothly.

The swimming pool was lovely. A low ceilinged room with dim lighting that caught the sheen on the pools flawless surface. Martha cut through the thin surface with ease, her graceful dive making her look like a professional swimmer even though she hadn't been in a pool for over a year. The pool wasn't as warm as Martha expected and the cool water sent a thrilling shock through her body, banishing the last lingering fingers of sleep. The creamy silence of underwater enveloped her like a long lost friend and she wished that she could stay there forever, letting the stillness wash away all that was wrong with the world. Unfortunately her lungs started to burn with need for oxygen so she kicked her legs and let herself float to the surface, gulping in a lungful of air to compensate for the minutes she had to go without. She settled into a fast paced front crawl after a few minutes and then spent half an hour teaching herself how to do a tumble turn at either end of the pool. Her body cut cleanly and efficiently through the water and then she did an elegant underwater somersault and shot back the other way. When she looked up for the first time since she had entered the water and saw the time she hauled herself out the pool and nearly sagged to the floor. She'd been swimming a hard, fast front crawl for the past 2 and a half hours and wanted nothing more than to sleep for the rest of the day. Martha got dried and changed in the empty changing room, pulling on her tights, green shorts, black vest top and oversized check shirt as if in a daze. She pulled her newly washed hair out of her eyes and dragged a comb through it, brushing in her parting and fringe; she decided to let it dry naturally and committed to de frizzing it later.

She didn't even try to hide her entrance this time around, seeing as it was ten 'o' clock and it was about time Cameron got up anyway to try and reduce jet lag. The door banged behind her and she made unnecessary noise banging around making two cups of tea and two plates of toast. She knew Cameron liked her coffee with 2 sugars so she heaped a single teaspoon into the steaming mug of liquid, knowing it was less bitter than coffee. At that exact moment a very dishevelled Cameron stumbled into the room, her eyes heavy with sleep and fatigue. She took the mug offered to her and gulped it down, expecting it to be coffee, the foreign taste of sweet, milky tea burned down her throat and she choked half of it back up, spitting the rest in the sink as she coughed desperately and her eyes streamed. Somewhere in the back of Martha's mind she knew she should be helping but she couldn't stop laughing, it was going to be fun watching Cameron trying to find her feet in England.

"Hey, chokey, finished coughing your lungs up yet?" Martha asked amused, and Cameron nodded, looking very sorry for herself.

"It feels like 5am" she complained and went to go and lay on the couch

"Maybe you'll go to bed earlier than 4 in the morning tomorrow then?" Martha flung back sarcastically

"Who are you? My mother?" Cameron replied

"well, you never know, anything seems to go with parentage at the moment" she said, pulling her off the couch and pushing her towards the shower in a very similar way to that first early morning bleep only this time they were both laughing at the really not that funny joke.

While Cameron was in the shower, Jason arrived, carrying a violin in one hand and a guitar strapped to his back "You forgot these" he said when she opened the door and Martha squealed with delight, taking the violin off him and leading him to the living room. She unpacked it quickly, fitting the shoulder rest onto the underside of the elegantly polished wood, tightening the bow and running a block of rosin up and down the pale horse hairs. She tuned it quickly, using the small metal rounds at the base rather than the big tuning pegs at the scroll. Just as Cameron came out of the room with wet hair dressed in jeans and a jumper Martha let her fingertips dance up the finger board, her bow pressing against the strings by the bridge and a truly inspirational run spilled across the room, each note played to perfection before she let her little finger rock in vibrato on the last note, a high B played on the E string, a high sad sound that brought a lump to Cameron's throat, but she didn't mention it, having more important things on her mind.

"Cuddy called" she stated simply, hoping to get a reaction

"Nice" Martha said and went back to plucking a few notes in a funky little rift

"She was asking for you"

"So?" Martha said, suddenly wanting everyone to just leave and let her get on with her life

"You should talk to her"

"Yeah, I will" Martha said and Cameron smiled "And pigs might fly" she finished and the grin slipped away as quickly as it had appeared

"Stop acting like a petulant 5 year old and go call her" Cameron demanded, she hated it when Martha started acting childishly, which thankfully wasn't often because she usually acted very maturely.

"Well maybe if she'd seen me when I was 5..."

"You know she wanted to be a mom to you and it wasn't her fault she wasn't" Cameron flung back, hating that they were going back to this stage yet again.

"I'm sorry, but can someone please explain what's going on?" Jason cut in, sensing one of them was going to end up with a bruised cheek and or crying. Martha sighed at the thought of having to explain this painful secret once again.

**I know this seems like poly filler and technically it is I guess, but I hope you get a better insight into Martha and the next chapter will be a Huddy one, I promise. A very fluffy, romantic, cuddles and kitten chapter just for all of you that have stuck by me all this time while school has gotten in my way. Love Y'all (some American lingo just for you xD)**


	21. Chapter 21

**I must say that I'm inspired, I didn't expect so many of you to still be with me on this, I mean 4 reviews isn't the amount I had at the end of the summer holidays, but I didn't expect to get any so I'm truly thankful to all of you that care about Martha enough to see how her story plays out. Thank you**

**And on with the story...**

Cuddy awoke slowly to find her head was on House's chest and his arms had encircled her, she was desperate to stay in this agreeable position, but her alarm wasn't going away any time soon so she reluctantly rolled over and banished the monotonous noise back to the confides of time and stumbled out of bed. When she walked into her kitchen a few minutes later she noticed a call coming through on Skype 'Allison Cameron' the user name read as it flashed across her screen. Cuddy sighed inwardly seeing as it was most probably Cameron calling her and not Martha on Cameron's account. She knew that they had agreed when it came to Martha they weren't boss and employee but two people that cared deeply about the same person, she knew this but desperately wished Cameron could go back to being the weak willed subordinate that just said yes to every diagnostical whim House came up with. It would be so much easier to face her that way, now someone she cared about was involved she had grown a metaphorical pair at the worst possible time. Clicking the green answer button she braced herself for the sight of a jetlagged and tired Cameron but was extremely annoyed to see her looking fresh faced with wet hair pulled back into a rough pony tail. Cuddy was fully aware that she looked an absolute mess.

"Wow. You look as rough as I feel" Cameron said, trying to be funny but it just came out as a harsh insult.

"Gee thanks. How is she" Cuddy asked, making it quite clear with her tone of voice that she would rather skip the 'pleasantries' and get straight to the point

"Good I think; she's slipped back into this time easier than American time so she went swimming this morning. A character called Jason keeps hanging around but I haven't met him yet, they Skyped while she was on the plane and he was at her house yesterday when she went to go and collect some things. She insists they're just friends but I think something else is going on, they just don't know it yet" Cameron reeled off with a slight smile on her face as she recalled Martha's expression whenever they talked of Jason

"Yeah, okay enough with my daughter's love life thanks, can I talk to her?" Cuddy asked, not wanted any more details on that side of Martha's life in England.

"Erm, she's kind of busy now, but she'll call you later?" Cameron said unconvincingly

"Fine, have it your way, I'll be waiting" Cuddy said and killed the web chat without saying goodbye and cutting Cameron off in the middle of a sentence. Not that she cared, it was easy to see the two women hated each other and it was ridiculous to pretend otherwise.

Cuddy was getting breakfast ready when House came padding down stairs in his dressing gown, his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her back towards him and he placed a tender kiss on her pulse point, her eyes flicked closed for a second in pleasure. He could sense the tension radiating off her so he started to massage her shoulders, rubbing the stress away.

"Take the day off, spend it with me, we've not spent much time together recently" House whispered into her hair

"That sounds like such a good idea" she said simply and turned around to link their lips. She stopped making breakfast and went to go and sit in the lounge with House, he turned the T.V on but she couldn't focus on it, all she could think about was her Skype account, still logged in and waiting for Martha's call. House sensed something was wrong and when he found out he rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, he limped through to the kitchen, changed her status to busy and quickly typed in a personal message that she read and couldn't help but giggle.

_Unless you're actually Martha go away. House is forcing me to have fun_

"So what's this fun you speak of?" Cuddy asked him in her best seductive voice and as much as he would have loved to take her up on her unspoken offer he had other things on his mind. For once.

"I thought we could decorate Martha's room. I mean I know you didn't know her when you decorated it so you went safe and made everything white..."

"It matches!" she protested weakly but she knew he was right

"It may all match together but it doesn't match her. What does she like? Music, rainbows, making jewellery, studying the human body and Bob Marley" he stated simply, prompting her for ideas. If this was how it felt to in one of his differentials she could see why his team got annoyed with him.

"So we're getting her CD's, painting the walls rainbow, beads, greys anatomy and weed?" she stated unhelpfully

"No. Well yes, I don't know, you're better at this than me, I do bodies and diseases, and you're good at colours and designs and stuff" he could see her brain spinning and knew he was onto a winner.

"There's painting sheets in my airing cupboard, make her room suitable for decorating and I'll be back in an hour. Oh and no you can't come with me, I need to channel my inner interior designer." She stated and with a kiss to his lips she swept out the door.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

When Cuddy came back, hauling the bags into the room she could see House had been busy. Everything was covered in paint splattered sheets, including the floor. She called him upstairs and was pleased to see what he had bought with him last night was old enough to decorate in and handed him a roller as she pulled her hair into a loose pony tail at the nape of her neck. She tips all 9 colours into the various trays she has scattered around the room. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, indigo, black and white. She dips one of the paint brushes into the red and start to paint the beginning of an elaborate pattern on the accent wall.

"Use this to paint the other walls and before you ask, no it's not the same, its darker so get on with it" she said, throwing a roller and a tray at him while gesturing towards the pot of slightly off white paint that sat in the corner. Both of them set about their respective tasks until House got bored. The accent wall Cuddy was working on really was a piece of art but he still went up behind her and stroked his fingers along her cheek, leaving trails of paint along her cheeks. She turned around her eyes blazing with playful fury. She raised her paint brush which was coated in violet paint and smeared it down the front of his face, leaving a long mark of deep purple between his eyes, along his nose and mouth. She knew it was the beginning of a war but she didn't care. They flicked paint and squealed like teenagers, her bell like laughter peeled around the room, complimented by his hearty bass chuckle. She was splattered every colour of the rainbow, as was he when she was finally pressed against him in the middle of the room as every wall was wet with paint. She dropped her brush with a clatter, sending a final spray of scarlet pain up his leg but she didn't notice. Her mind was just saying _kiss me, kiss me, kiss me_ and for once he felt like doing as he was told. They stood and kissed in the middle of the room like first loves, her hairs reaching up to cup his face and leaving angry smears of black down his cheeks. They finally pulled away and House reluctantly reminded her that they needed to get this done and he set about tie dying her bed sheets as Cuddy went back to the feature wall.

HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE

"Well she's gonna love this" he said with a satisfied grin on his face "You did good" he told Cuddy wrapping his arms around her waist. They were both still covered in paint and dye and any other staining agent they had used that day but the room before them was pristine and truly beautiful. The feature wall Cuddy had been working on was a complicated pattern of different shaped stripes every colour of the rainbow, some wide and made to stand out, some just a single stroke thick giving a dramatic effect that looked wonderful. Because the feature wall was so bright and full of life the other walls were painted a slightly off white that complimented the furniture perfectly. They had kept the original furniture but customised it slightly. Her bed was still made of white iron but they had tie dyed her sheets and scattered a few rainbow cushions over the pillows. An official framed and signed Bob Marley poster hung above her chest of drawers and a big stack of new CD's stood next to the stereo Martha had brought with her from England. Cuddy had bought some retro, vintage necklaces while she was out and had draped them over the top of the mirror and stocked the empty chest of drawers and wardrobe with clothes she hoped Martha would like. They had done all they could and Cuddy finally felt herself relaxing.

"You're right" she told House "I did do good, but you did good too, so I think you deserve a reward" when he led her away from the newly finished room his mind was most defiantly not on re decorating another room. The natural order was restored.

**I hoped you liked it and as always please review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**So I wanted to post this last night but I couldn't because my Wi-Fi decided to be horrible to me and stop connecting to my laptop so for that I apologize and instead I gift you with this chapter of wonderfulness so get a suitable beverage (I'm going to be very stereotypical now) tea for the English, coffee for the Americans, juice for all you young uns out there who I sincerely doubt are reading this but I don't want to discriminate. Gallop to your seats my dear reader chums because you are in for a treat tonight. Settle down with your suitable beverage and maybe a snack because you may get hungry, you never know, and let's get on with it shall we? Because I'm rambling, and ramblings never good.**

**Also, I don't own the song mentioned here, it is called 'Mountain Sound' by Of Monsters and Men. Awesome song, like how moist is an awesome word. Listen to it, I implore you (did I use that in the right context I wonder xD my English teacher would not be a happy women right now)**

**And on with the story...**

"You don't know what rock paper scissors lizard Spock is?" Martha asked Cameron incredulously

"Um no, I'm not a dork" she replied playfully and Martha looked to Jason in disbelief who then looked at Cameron in disbelief who in turn stared at them as if they had just told her their home planet was called Quarge and was 3 solar systems away.

"Let me explain this to you" Martha said playfully "Right, rock paper scissors lizard Spock" she explained, making the appropriate hand gestures as she went along

"Rock crushes the lizard and the scissors" Jason told her

"Scissors cuts paper and decapitates lizard" Martha carried on

"Paper covers rock and disproves Spock" Jason capped her

"Spock vaporizes the rock and smashes the scissors" Martha continued

"And lizard poisons Spock and eats the paper" Jason finished with a smile

"Woah woah woah, why does paper disprove Spock?" Cameron asked, truly confused

"Because Spock's not real" Martha said and Cameron shook her head

"I'm going out, I want to see what English malls are like" Cameron said and got up to leave

"okay, turn left when you leave the hotel and you'll walk straight into town if you can't find one of the shopping centres in town then there's something fundamentally wrong with you, don't forget we have a meeting with school later!" Martha celled as Cameron headed out the door. Her voice getting progressively louder as Cameron got further and further away and the door banged halfway through the last word.

"Adults" she said with a sarcastic sigh that made them both dissolve into laughter, the awkwardness melted away and Martha felt the week apart slipping away like a bad dream fading in the warm light of day. "Do you want a drink?" she offered easily and went padding off to the kitchen while he sat fiddling with her guitar, he started playing a cool rift as she carried a large bottle of lemonade and two glasses back to their patch of the soft cream carpet.

"I heard them calling in the distance" he sang and she sat mesmerised by the happily sombre notes that washed over her "so I packed my bags and ran, far away from all the trouble I had caused with my two hands. Alone we travelled armed with nothing but a shadow, we fled far away." He finished and the lyrics died away and she knew he'd gotten stuck there; they made a perfect song writing team. She could consistently churn out lyrics and play the guitar, he filled in the gaps and played lead to her rhythm, it seemed they'd switched places for the day. Not that she minded the change was oddly refreshing.

"How about... Hold your horses now" she sang

"Sleep until the sun goes down" he backed

"Through the woods we ran"

"Deep into the mountain sound"

"Hold your horses now"

"Sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we ran" She finished and he smiled "Perfect" he praised her and she bent her head embarrassed, hiding the scarlet blush that was creeping up her cheeks. He had praised her often enough for her lyrics, a rift, her climbing skills, the list was endless, they praised each other but this time it sounded different, almost... loving? She banished the thought as soon as it had entered her mind. _You're hearing what you want to_ she scolded herself and downed the last of her drink.

"There's only one glass left" he pointed out, gesturing towards the almost empty bottle

"Rock paper scissors lizard Spock?" she asked with a cheeky grin

"Well, I was going to be a gentleman, but if you're betting your prize than I'm not going to be the one to stop you" he replied with the endearing crooked grin that she loved so much.

"Rock paper scissors lizard Spock" she challenged as their fists bounced in the air. Hers landed on paper and his landed on Spock. She gave a triumphant grin and reached for the bottle.

"Best of three?" he teased and the whole ritual was repeated. This time with her choosing scissors and him choosing lizard. She smiled again and poured the last of the lemonade into her glass and he didn't protest.

"Last game? Just for my dignity" he asked sarcastically and she complied happily enough, having won her prize. She chose Spock and his hand was either a mutilated rock or a disfigured lizard.

"Okay, what on earth is that?" she asked him

"Lizard, defiantly a lizard"

"No, it's totally a rock"

"It's a lizard" he insisted, obviously set on winning at least one game

"A lizard looks like this!" she said, leaning forwards and shaping his hand with her own, ignoring the electricity that seemed to zing through her with contact "and your hand looked like this" she insisted, again reshaping his hand through laughter. They argued light heartedly, their hands still linked, laughter dancing around the room, making her light headed and dizzy, butterflies whizzed around her stomach. She felt almost drunk, like she couldn't walk if she'd have stood up, but she wouldn't have moved, not for the world.

"Look, just because you have a deformed idea of what a lizard looks like..." Jason tried to argue, the rest of his sentence swallowed by the laughter bubbling up from his chest, both of the beginning to bend in the middle with the hilarity of it all. Martha didn't know if she believed in fate but in that moment she was sure she did, because even though it was all teeth and laughter and smiles their lips brushed by accident. All noise stopped as it someone had hit a mute button and she shot away from him as quickly as if she'd been shocked, her fingers probing at her lip gently, not entirely sure what happened. It would have been so easy to laugh about it, forget everything and go on believing that it had never really happened because it was an accident right? So easy for him but pure torture for her. She let her hand fall back to her lap as the silence stretched on. She didn't expect him to lean in and brush his lips with hers. She didn't expect to feel such intense emotion, or for her knees to feel funny, even though she was sitting on the floor already. Or the soft, satisfied smile when he pulled away from the chaste kiss, she didn't expect him to pick the guitar up again and start plucking a few notes, piecing together a guitar solo like it was the most natural thing in the world to lean over and kiss her. She didn't expect it but it didn't mean she didn't want it. She wanted him more than she wanted anything in the whole world. It was such a shame Cameron chose to come home at exactly that time with a loud bang of the door, trailing shopping bags and talking about the meeting and to get changed into her uniform because they were going to be late. It was a shame he left before she got the chance to tell him how much he meant to her.

**I know this is about Martha and Jason, two original characters so this technically isn't fan fiction, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway because I loved writing it, next chapter is Huddy, promise :3**

**As always, please review**


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